WASHINGTON (AP) — As part of the Trump administration's ongoing campaign to pressure Iran into a deal that would end an ongoing war with the U.S. and Israel, the U.S. placed sanctions on Iran’s largest digital asset exchange and three other exchanges, Tuesday.
Included in the sanctions are Iran's largest digital assets firm Nobitex and its chairman and co-founder, Amir Hossein Rad. Treasury says Nobitex has processed more than 50% of all Iranian digital asset income last year and supports Iran's vast sanctions evasion network.
The sanctions come as a pair of semiofficial Iranian news agencies reported Tuesday that Iran stopped communicating with mediators about extending a ceasefire in the war with the U.S. and Israel.
U.S. President Donald Trump has disputed the claim and said talks are continuing.
Treasury accuses Nobitex of moving assets and funds out of the country to shield regime wealth after the start of U.S. combat operations in Iran. A representative from Nobitex could not be reached through email.
U.S. officials maintain that Iran relies heavily on cryptocurrency and other digital assets to evade sanctions. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said at the Reagan National Economic Forum this month, “We have seized about a billion dollars of their crypto."
The Trump administration's latest announcement is one of a variety of measures put in place to inflict economic pain on Iran. It has also imposed secondary economic sanctions on countries doing business with people, firms, and ships under Iranian control — including allies like the United Arab Emirates and competitors like China. Banks have received warnings about handling Iranian money.
And last week, the U.S. imposed sanctions on Iran's newly created Persian Gulf Strait Authority, which is an agency intended to control shipping through the narrow Strait of Hormuz. Treasury calls the agency a “scheme to extort international shipping.”
Meanwhile, the U.S. military has stopped merchant vessels trying to break through a U.S.-led blockade of Iranian ports. The U.S. launched the blockade on April 17 after Iran effectively closed the strait after the war in the Middle East began with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Feb. 28.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent listens to a reporter's question in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Thursday, May 28, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said Tuesday that the Trump administration is scrapping plans to create a $1.8 billion fund meant to compensate allies of the Republican president after widespread political backlash and setbacks in the courts.
“We are not moving forward with the fund, period,” Blanche said.
Blanche’s comments during a House committee hearing came in response to mounting pressure from Republicans for reassurances that the Justice Department’s plans were off the table before they would move forward with legislation funding President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement agencies.
The Trump administration had previously defended the fund as an appropriate measure make up for what officials insist was a weaponized Justice Department during President Joe Biden’s Democratic administration, a claim the Biden administration strongly denied.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats confronted acting Attorney General Todd Blanche on Tuesday about a nearly $1.8 billion fund meant to compensate allies of President Donald Trump even as the Trump administration has signaled that it was pausing plans to move forward with the contentious program.
“This administration has engaged in what are perhaps the most brazen acts of flagrant corruption I’ve ever seen,” said Rep. Rosa DeLauro, a Democrat from Connecticut. “And you are at the center of many of them, Mr. Blanche.”
She called it a “corrupt payout scheme for the president and his allies.”
The hearing before a House Appropriations subcommittee was scheduled for discussion of the Justice Department's budget, but lawmakers were ready to focus their questioning on the creation of a fund that has provoked outrage over the mere possibility that violent pro-Trump rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, could be eligible for payouts.
The Republican president is now reconsidering whether to move forward with the fund established to resolve his lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the leak of his tax returns, according to a person familiar with the matter, in the face of Republican backlash and legal setbacks. The person insisted on anonymity to discuss the president’s thinking on Monday. The Justice Department also said Monday it would comply with a Virginia court temporarily blocking the administration's “Anti-Weaponization Fund,” effectively agreeing to pause the plan for at least two weeks.
Another judge in Florida raised the prospect of reopening the IRS lawsuit because of “grievous allegations” of improper dealing made against the administration by settlement critics.
The Trump administration has defended the fund as an appropriate measure to make up for what officials insist was a weaponized Justice Department during President Joe Biden's Democratic administration, a claim the Biden administration strongly denied. Though some Trump supporters, including participants in the Capitol riot, have celebrated the announcement, the reaction among Republicans in Congress has been decidedly more hostile, forcing Blanche to try to assuage a GOP constituency that generally operates in close alignment with the administration.
The furor has especially complicated matters in the Senate, where Republicans defiantly left town 10 days ago without passing legislation to fund Trump’s immigration enforcement agencies. Republicans who returned to Washington on Monday said they won’t have the votes to pass the Homeland Security spending bill until the White House works with them to place parameters on the fund. Many have pushed the administration to impose limits or scrap the idea altogether.
At a Senate budget hearing last month, Blanche refused to rule out the possibility that those who carried out violence on Jan. 6 could be eligible for payouts and has repeatedly said in interviews that anyone who feels persecuted by the criminal justice system is free to apply. Payouts will be decided by a five-member commission appointed by Blanche.
But he has apparently struck a more conciliatory tone in private when confronted by Republican anger.
Blanche encountered a groundswell of opposition last month at a tense private meeting with GOP senators, with more than half raising concerns, including by shouting at the Justice Department's top official, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas said in a recent episode of his podcast.
“There were fireworks at an epic level — and I've got to say, it's one of the roughest meetings I've seen in my entire time in the Senate," Cruz said.
Behind closed doors, Blanche was “adamant” that no one who assaulted police at the Capitol would receive compensation, according to Cruz.
“He said not just ‘no,’ but ‘hell no,’” the senator recalled.
FILE - Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Dallas, March 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Gabriela Passos, File)
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche testifies during a Senate Committee on Appropriations subcommittee hearing to address the Trump administration's budget request for the Justice Department, Tuesday, May 19, 2026, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche arrives for a closed-door meeting with Republican senators who are expected to abandon a proposal for $1 billion in security money for the White House complex and President Donald Trump's ballroom after it has failed to win enough party support, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, May 21, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche speaks to a reporter outside the White House, Wednesday, May 27, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
FILE - Acting U.S. attorney general Todd Blanche speaks during a news conference at the Justice Department, May 4, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)
