US Freezes $344 Million in Tether's USDT, Citing Iran Sanctions and 'Economic Fury' Campaign

In its latest move to disrupt Iran's financial networks, the US Treasury Department has frozen $344 million in cryptocurrency, citing the regime's attempts to circumvent sanctions. The freeze is part of the US government's broader 'Economic Fury' initiative, aimed at strangling Iran's access to global finance. According to Secretary Bessent, the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has sanctioned several crypto wallets linked to Iran, resulting in the freeze of $344 million in USDT. The action follows Tether's decision to blacklist two blockchain addresses holding the frozen funds. A US official revealed that the sanctioned wallets had significant ties to the Iranian regime, including transactions with Iranian exchanges and connections to the Central Bank of Iran. The Treasury Department believes Iran has been increasingly relying on cryptocurrency to conceal cross-border transactions and facilitate trade under sanctions. To combat this, OFAC is taking aggressive action against both traditional front companies and digital asset transactions. The US agency is working closely with blockchain analytics firms and financial institutions to track and disrupt illicit flows tied to sanctioned entities.