US Freezes $344 Million in Tether's USDT, Citing Crackdown on Iran's Financial Networks

In its latest move to disrupt Iran's financial networks, the US Treasury Department has frozen $344 million in cryptocurrency, as part of a broader initiative known as 'Economic Fury'. According to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, the department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has imposed sanctions on multiple cryptocurrency wallets linked to Iran, resulting in the freeze of $344 million in cryptocurrency. Bessent stated that the US will track and target all financial channels used by Tehran, as part of a concerted effort to stifle the regime's access to funds. The move follows Tether's decision to blacklist two blockchain addresses holding $344 million in USDT. A US official revealed that the sanctioned wallets had significant ties to the Iranian regime, including transactions with Iranian exchanges and connections to wallets associated with the Central Bank of Iran. The Treasury Department has accused Iran's central bank of leveraging digital assets to conceal cross-border transactions. As the US increases pressure on Iran, authorities claim that the country has been using complex transaction patterns to obscure its involvement in cross-border payments and support trade flows under sanctions pressure. The US Treasury's OFAC is taking aggressive action against both traditional front companies and the use of digital assets, while also sanctioning companies like Hengli Petrochemical (Dalian) Refinery Co., which is accused of supporting Iran's oil economy. The US agency is working closely with blockchain analytics firms and financial institutions, including crypto exchanges, to track and disrupt illicit financial flows linked to sanctioned entities.