Iran Pioneers Cryptocurrency Payments for Arms Trade Amid Sanctions
Iran's Ministry of Defence Export Center (Mindex) now accepts cryptocurrency for advanced weapons sales, becoming the first nation-state to publicly adopt digital assets for strategic arms transactions. The state-run agency lists over 3,000 military products—including ballistic missiles and combat drones—with payment options spanning crypto, barter, or Iranian rials. Documents show this policy has operated quietly for a year.
The MOVE signals Iran's adaptation to financial isolation. Mindex's website, hosted on a sanctioned Iranian cloud provider, explicitly addresses sanctions evasion in its FAQ section, asserting guaranteed contract execution. The agency claims relationships with 35 countries but discloses neither clients nor pricing.
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute data ranks Iran as the 18th-largest arms exporter in 2024. This crypto pivot mirrors broader trends of sanctioned regimes leveraging decentralized finance, though with unprecedented direct state involvement in weapons trading.
