Iran's Nobitex Linked to Leadership, Sanctioned Transactions

Iran's largest cryptocurrency exchange, Nobitex, was founded in 2018 by brothers Ali and Mohammad Kharrazi, members of a politically influential family with deep ties to the country's leadership, including relations by marriage to all three supreme leaders. The platform has processed tens to hundreds of millions of dollars in transactions linked to sanctioned Iranian institutions, such as the Central Bank of Iran and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, while serving about 11 million users and handling roughly 70 percent of the nation's crypto activity.

The brothers registered Nobitex under the surname Aghamir Mohammad Ali, concealing their family connection from public records for years. Corporate filings, banking records and domain registrations trace the link to the Kharrazi family. The email used to register the Nobitex domain in 2017 included the Kharrazi name and connected to a religious charity led by their father, Ayatollah Bagher Kharrazi. He founded an Iranian political organization named Hezbollah, distinct from the Lebanese group, and helped staff the IRGC after the 1979 revolution. Their grandfather, a religious scholar, served on the Assembly of Experts, which...