US Treasury cracks down on Iran-linked money networks, sanctions Canadian firms

The US Treasury Department has imposed financial sanctions on eight money services firms based in Canada, alleging that they facilitated transactions with sanctioned Iranian entities.The sanctions effectively cut the firms off from the US dollar-based financial system, blocking any assets they may hold in the United States and prohibiting transactions with US persons or entities."Canada is home to hundreds of money services businesses that enable the movement of funds into and out of Iran, both through cash-based value transfer systems and by converting cash into digital assets to send across borders", the department wrote in its release.US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent defended the move, saying, “Canada cannot be a safe haven for illicit financial facilitators that provide sanctions evasion services to the Iranian regime and its proxies.” He added, “Treasury will pursue and disrupt the Iranian regime’s financial channels anywhere in the world.”The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)…