Three individuals and six entities spread across Europe, the Middle East and West Africa were hit with U.S. sanctions on June 22, 2026, accused of moving money for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced the designations.
“ISIS continues to seek new methods and tools to finance terrorist attacks,” said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. “The United States will leverage every tool at its disposal to crush ISIS’s remaining capabilities and protect American lives.”
Why facilitators matter
Treasury’s 2026 National Terrorist Financing Risk Assessment and a FinCEN advisory from April 2025 both describe an ISIS that has grown more decentralized under sustained pressure, leaning on autonomous cells and affiliates around the world. Financial facilitators connect those nodes to ISIS’s General Directorate of Provinces, the body that gives regional offices operational guidance and funding.
Treasury tied the action to the killing of Abu-Bilal al-Minuki. President Trump announced on May 16, 2026 that al-Minuki, the number two official in ISIS and head of the General Directorate of Provinces, had died in an operation run jointly by the U.S. Department of War and the government of Nigeria.
Who was named
Miloud Abderrahmane, a French national based in France, has dealt with known ISIS affiliates, some of them in Syria, according to Treasury. He also passed instructions on making explosives to ISIS supporters.
Abdelhakim Boukich, based in Syria and formerly a Dutch national, controls Bitcoin Xchange, a money service business set up in late 2020 with his associates. Treasury said it has moved money for ISIS associates sending from Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands, South Africa and the United States.
Mohamad Alhmidan was already sanctioned in March 2016. He owns and controls Spider Gayrimenkul Ve Genel Ticaret Limited Sirketi, a money service business in Turkiye that began as a hawala in Syria and carried funds out of ISIS-held territory. A second Turkiye-based firm, Alkaram Danismanlik Gayrimenkul Ic Ve Dis Genel Ticaret Limited Sirketi, does business as Spider and acts for it.
The Nigeria angle
In Nigeria, Treasury named Mukhtar Adamu Muhammad as a financial facilitator for ISIS in West Africa. Three exchange bureaus he owns, controls or directs were designated with him: Nine to Nine Exchange Bureau de Change Limited, Manhattan Bureau de Change Limited and Generation Currency Bureau de Change Limited.
Treasury said the al-Minuki operation shows the U.S. and Nigeria working together, including on cutting off terrorist financing and on protecting religious minorities.
What the designations mean
All property of the designated people in the United States, or held by U.S. persons, is now blocked and has to be reported to OFAC. Entities owned 50 percent or more by blocked persons, alone or combined, are blocked as well. Dealings by U.S. persons with them are generally barred unless OFAC authorizes them.
Foreign banks face exposure too. OFAC can restrict or set strict conditions on a foreign financial institution’s U.S. correspondent or payable-through accounts if it knowingly handles a significant transaction for a designated person. Civil penalties can be imposed on a strict liability basis, and criminal penalties are possible.
FinCEN’s whistleblower incentive program may pay awards to people who report sanctions violations, if the tip leads to an enforcement action with monetary penalties above $1,000,000. Treasury added that a designated party can petition OFAC for removal from the list.
