US seizes nearly $500M in Iran linked crypto as Bessent says sanctions push regime into crisis

During a wider economic pressure campaign to cut off Tehran’s financial lifelines, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Wednesday that the US has taken nearly $500 million in Iranian crypto assets as part of ‘the scariest and most important thing we have done with Iran’.

Bessent, speaking on Fox Business, said Operation Economic Fury has ‘flacked Iran into crisis by freezing bank accounts, targeting overseas assets and pressured foreign governments and companies to not deal with the regime’. The program, which is designed to take Iranian assets and limit oil revenue, will also weaken Tehran’s capacity for funding its military & proxy networks.

The latest revelations boost the administration’s crypto sanctions push after the Treasury Department approved several wallets tied to Iran last week, reducing $344 million in Crypto. It targeted wallets of Iranian connected funds as Washington stepped up to disrupt digital asset channels used by Tehran, Bessent said at the time.

Chainalysis reported that the $344 million freeze centered on USDT was conducted with Tether’s cooperation, and it is known as ‘the most effective type of one ever to be used in its three-year period for this purpose–to minimized use of US dollars. A US official told CNN that the money was associated with Iran through transactions involving Iranian exchanges and intermediary addresses linked to Central Bank of Iran associated wallets.

Bessent said the pressure campaign has gone beyond crypto and banking, with Treasury warning buyers of Iranian oil that the US is prepared to use secondary sanctions against companies, banks and industries which support Iran oil flows.

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