Military escalation after Iranian missile attacks has been paired with broad crypto sanctions targeting Iran’s central bank and major exchanges tied to sanctions evasion.
President Donald Trump said US military strikes on Iran will continue indefinitely after Iranian ballistic missile attacks in mid-July 2026 targeted American forces in Jordan, Bahrain and Kuwait. Jordanian forces intercepted at least three to five incoming missiles and no US casualties were reported. The escalation follows earlier Iranian missile strikes dating to March, coordinated US-Israeli military action and the collapse of an interim peace deal negotiated in June 2026. Washington has paired the military campaign with a tougher financial crackdown. The US Treasury has frozen more than $130 million in digital assets tied to Iran’s central bank and designated major Iranian cryptocurrency exchanges including Nobitex, Wallex and Bitpin under counterterrorism authorities, with their executives named individually as well. The move represents one of the largest crypto-focused sanctions enforcement actions linked to a state actor and broadens pressure beyond wallet blacklists by targeting the exchange infrastructure that can facilitate large-scale sanctions evasion. The developments add to tensions around the Strait of Hormuz, a critical energy chokepoint that carries roughly a fifth of the world’s oil each day. Renewed conflict has intensified risks to regional shipping and energy transit as the United States expands both military and financial pressure on Iran.