The U.S. Treasury sanctions Iran's Strait of Hormuz, with insurance networks involving the use of Bitcoin to evade sanctions

According to i24NEWS, the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has imposed sanctions on Gulf Maritime Insurance Company and HormuzSafe Maritime Services Administration, which provide insurance policies approved by the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps for commercial vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz and accept payments in digital assets such as Bitcoin to evade sanctions.

OFAC also sanctioned eight vessels of a shadow fleet transporting Iranian crude oil and petroleum products and their affiliated companies, including Well Sail, Lily, Al Salmi, Breeze V, Natsumi, Crystal, Nireta, and Yehope. Since the beginning of this year, OFAC has sanctioned over 100 vessels related to the Iranian shadow fleet.