Iranian sanctions have pushed people and firms to use currency brokers, informal transfers and crypto to pay abroad, but each route carries fees, delays and the risk of loss.
01Summary
- 01Decades of sanctions and the current US-Israeli war on Iran have made cross-border banking hard for Iranians.
- 02Informal currency networks, intermediary firms and private deals are being used to move money without direct transfers between bank accounts.
- 03The US Treasury’s OFAC has sanctioned major Iranian crypto exchanges including Nobitex, Wallex, Bitpin and Ramzinex.
- 04Iranian trade expert Ashkan Bahrami said informal exchange and remittance systems carry risks such as lost funds, fraud and high transfer costs.
- 05Arghavan Ghazanfari said transit times on shipments via Shanghai have risen from 26 days to as long as 102 or 120 days.
02Why it matters
The restrictions affect both ordinary people and businesses trying to pay for goods and services abroad. They also add cost, delay and uncertainty to Iran’s wider economy as the rial loses value.
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