Dubai’s virtual-asset regulator had already fined Shelbit General Trading and ordered it to stop unlicensed activity when the U.S. Treasury moved against the wider exchange network two weeks later. On August 7, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control designated Shelbit, Aban Tether and associated people and companies under counterterrorism- and Iran-related authorities.

The two-step regulatory record matters. Dubai’s regulator focused on licensing, customer checks and unauthorized marketing; OFAC focused on sanctioned counterparties, corporate control and wallet flows. Read together, the actions show how local compliance failures and cross-border sanctions exposure can surface around the same exchange network….