US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced that the United States plans to seize approximately $1 billion in cryptocurrency linked to Iran this week. The move is part of ongoing sanctions against Iran amid recent military conflicts that began in February. Bessent did not specify which exchanges or stablecoin issuers are involved in the seizure.
During his speech at the Newsmax NPolicy Summit on Thursday, Bessent stated that the US has identified the targeted crypto assets and is currently isolating them. He emphasized that the seizure is part of a broader strategy to economically isolate Iran. The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) had previously targeted crypto exchanges facilitating funds to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in August.
Bessent had previously claimed in an April interview that authorities had seized $500 million in crypto tied to Iran. Stablecoin issuer Tether also reported in September that it had frozen $550 million worth of USDt (USDT) in 2023 as part of US sanctions on Iran, including $344 million in April alone.