US Freezes $344 Million in Tether's USDT, Citing 'Economic Fury' Against Iran

In its latest move to disrupt Iran's financial networks, the US Treasury Department has frozen $344 million in cryptocurrency. This action is part of a broader initiative, known as 'Economic Fury', aimed at targeting the financial lifelines of the Iranian regime. According to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, the department will track and target any financial transactions that Tehran attempts to make outside of the country. The freeze is a result of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioning multiple crypto wallets linked to Iran, which led to the blacklisting of two blockchain addresses on Tron holding $344 million in USDT by stablecoin issuer Tether. A US official revealed that the sanctioned wallets had significant links to the Iranian regime, including transactions with Iranian exchanges and connections to wallets associated with the Central Bank of Iran. The Iranian central bank has been using digital assets to conceal its cross-border transactions. Authorities have noted that Iran has increasingly relied on cryptocurrency to circumvent restrictions, using complex transaction patterns to obscure its involvement in cross-border payments and support trade flows under sanctions pressure. The Treasury's OFAC is intensifying its efforts against both traditional front companies and the use of digital assets. Additionally, the US sanctioned Hengli Petrochemical (Dalian) Refinery Co., accusing the China-based refineries of playing a significant role in Iran's oil economy. The US agency continues to collaborate with blockchain analytics firms and financial institutions, including crypto exchanges, to track illicit flows tied to sanctioned entities.