U.S. Sanctions Iran Central Bank Crypto Wallets, Tether Freezes $131 Million in USDT

The U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned multiple cryptocurrency wallets tied to Iran's Central Bank and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on Tuesday, with stablecoin issuer Tether freezing over $131 million across four addresses on the Tron blockchain, according to Decrypt. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confirmed the move in a post on X, vowing the U.S. would "aggressively follow the money and deny the Iranian regime access" to illicit funds. Separately, the Treasury sanctioned seven individuals linked to a global weapons procurement network for the Iranian armed forces and IRGC, including a Tehran-based drone parts supplier, a Nigerian intermediary, and Russian nationals tied to a Moscow aviation company. The freeze is the latest action in a campaign branded Operation Economic Fury.

Background

Iran has spent years building a crypto infrastructure to circumvent sanctions, according to Decrypt. The country legalized Bitcoin mining in 2019 and turned to USDT to stabilize a rial in freefall and settle international trade. USDT, a digital token issued by Tether pegged one-to-one to the U.S. dollar, runs on blockchains like Ethereum and Tron, outside the banking system Iran has been largely cut off from for years. Because Tether issues the token, it retains the ability to freeze specific wallet addresses at the software level, rendering the funds immovable. Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis tracked nearly $8 billion in attributed Iranian crypto volume in 2026, while TRM argues it is almost $10 billion, with IRGC-associated addresses accounting for more than half of the country's inflows in the final quarter of that year. Tuesday's freeze follows earlier actions: in April, Tether froze $344 million in USDT across two other Tron addresses tied to Iran's central bank; by May, Bessent said the U.S. had seized roughly $1 billion in Iranian crypto total since the campaign began; and in June, the Treasury sanctioned Iran's four largest exchanges, including Nobitex, which alone processed more than half of the country's digital asset volume in 2025.

What happened

According to Decrypt, the U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned multiple cryptocurrency wallets tied to Iran's Central Bank and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on Tuesday. Stablecoin issuer Tether froze over $131 million across four addresses on the Tron blockchain. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confirmed the move in a post on X, vowing the U.S. would "aggressively follow the money and deny the Iranian regime access" to illicit funds. In a separate action, the Treasury sanctioned seven individuals linked to a global weapons procurement network for the Iranian armed forces and IRGC, including a Tehran-based drone parts supplier, a Nigerian intermediary, and Russian nationals tied to a Moscow aviation company. The freeze is part of a campaign branded Operation Economic Fury. In April, Tether froze $344 million in USDT across two other Tron addresses tied to Iran's central bank. By May, Bessent said the U.S. had seized roughly $1 billion in Iranian crypto total since the campaign began. In June, the Treasury sanctioned Iran's four largest exchanges, including Nobitex, which alone processed more than half of the country's digital asset volume in 2025. Tether says it now works with more than 340 law enforcement agencies across 65 countries and has frozen more than $4.4 billion in assets since it began coordinating with authorities, including more than $2.1 billion tied to US enforcement actions.

Market impact

The sources provide no price data for USDT, bitcoin, or any other asset, and no market reaction beyond the frozen amounts. The key figures are: over $131 million in USDT frozen across four Tron addresses tied to Iran's central bank; $344 million frozen in April across two other Tron addresses; roughly $1 billion in Iranian crypto seized since the campaign began, according to Bessent in May; nearly $8 billion in attributed Iranian crypto volume in 2026 per Chainalysis, or almost $10 billion per TRM; IRGC-associated addresses accounting for more than half of Iran's inflows in the final quarter of that year; Nobitex processing more than half of Iran's digital asset volume in 2025; and Tether having frozen more than $4.4 billion in assets since coordinating with authorities, including more than $2.1 billion tied to US enforcement actions. Tether now works with more than 340 law enforcement agencies across 65 countries. No exchange prices, trading volumes, or liquidity metrics are cited in the sources.

Why it matters

The freeze demonstrates how centralized stablecoins like USDT can be used as a sanctions enforcement tool, according to Decrypt. Because Tether issues the token, it retains the ability to freeze specific wallet addresses at the software level, rendering the funds immovable. Blockchain is what makes this enforcement possible—and what makes Iran's crypto workaround less safe than it looks. Transactions on public networks like Tron are permanently visible, and U.S. agencies work alongside analytics firms to trace how money moves. TRM Labs' Ari Redford told Bloomberg in April that law enforcement can "track and trace the flow of funds to build cases—and potentially seize them" when actors try to cash out at regulated exchanges, which must comply with US rules. Redford described it as "this cat and mouse game between the IRGC financial facilitators and National Security (Agencies) to try to stop Iran from offraping." The more centralized a blockchain or crypto solution is, the more prone it is to being censored, Decrypt notes.