US Freezes $344 Million in 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. According to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has sanctioned several crypto wallets tied to Iran, resulting in the freeze of a significant amount of cryptocurrency. The action is part of a broader campaign dubbed 'Economic Fury', aimed at choking off all financial lifelines to the Iranian regime. This move follows Tether's decision to blacklist two blockchain addresses on Tron, holding $344 million in USDT. US authorities claim the sanctioned wallets have material links to the Iranian regime, including transactions with Iranian exchanges and connections to the Central Bank of Iran. The Treasury Department asserts that Iran has been increasingly using crypto to bypass restrictions, employing complex transaction patterns to obscure its involvement in cross-border payments and support trade flows under sanctions pressure. To counter this, OFAC is taking aggressive action against both traditional front companies and the use of digital assets, while maintaining coordination with blockchain analytics firms and financial institutions to track illicit flows tied to sanctioned entities.