Treasury is freezing $344 million in cryptocurrency linked to the Iranian regime, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a post on X.
“Under Economic Fury, @USTreasury will continue to systematically degrade Tehran’s ability to generate, move, and repatriate funds,” Bessent wrote. “Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control is sanctioning multiple wallets tied to Iran — resulting in the freeze of $344 million in cryptocurrency.”
He added, “We will follow the money that Tehran is desperately attempting to move outside of the country and target all financial lifelines tied to the regime.”
A U.S. official provided some additional details to NBC News.
“Given Iran’s attempts to take global energy infrastructure hostage, Treasury is moving aggressively with Economic Fury by further increasing our pressure on the Iranian regime, targeting both traditional sanctions evasion tools like front companies as well as the exploitation of innovative technologies like digital assets,” the official said. “Working with blockchain analytics experts, the U.S. government has observed evidence of material links to the Iranian regime, including confirmed transactions with Iranian exchanges and a series of transactions routed through intermediary addresses that interact with Central Bank of Iran-associated wallets.”
The official added, “The Central Bank of Iran (CBI) has used increasingly complex methods to obfuscate its involvement in cross-border transactions using digital assets, as they seek to stabilize the rial and facilitate international trade in an increasingly restricted environment.”
The U.S. will continue to track Iran’s financial transactions, the official said.
“Treasury will continue to aggressively follow Iran’s money and counter Iranian sanctions evasion activity around the world by using all available tools in support of Economic Fury,” the official said. “Treasury maintains an active dialogue with numerous U.S. and foreign financial institutions, including digital assets exchanges.”
