The Iranian regime's decision to accept cryptocurrency payments from cargo ships traversing the Strait of Hormuz is a calculated move that aligns with its existing sanctions-circumventing trade networks, experts in blockchain criminality suggest. This development has been confirmed by a spokesperson for Iran's Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Products Exporters' Union, who stated that bitcoin is being accepted as a payment method, with a fee of $1 per barrel of oil. The Iranian regime, particularly the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), has been increasingly utilizing cryptocurrency to facilitate cross-border commercial trade, especially with Iranian oil sales, as per data from blockchain analytics specialist Chainalysis. According to Andrew Fierman, head of national security intelligence at Chainalysis, this type of trade is unsurprising, given the IRGC's history of using cryptocurrency to facilitate cross-border trade.
A snapshot of sanctioned activity over the last year and a half reveals a complex network using crypto wallets, with a growing trend of IRGC-affiliated networks using crypto at a commercial scale to facilitate cross-border trade.