Bessent reveals coordinated campaign to freeze IRGC financial networks
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced on May 29 that the United States has seized approximately $1 billion in cryptocurrency linked to Iran, marking an escalation in the Treasury Department’s campaign to dismantle Tehran’s financial infrastructure following military operations earlier this year.
The seizure includes $344 million in USDT frozen by Tether on two Tron blockchain addresses tied to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. One address held $213 million; the second contained $131 million. Chainalysis, a blockchain analytics firm, identified on-chain patterns in the Tron addresses consistent with known Iranian military wallets.
“We will track the funds that Tehran is urgently attempting to transfer abroad and target all financial avenues linked to the regime,” Bessent said at the Reagan National Economic Forum.
The cryptocurrency seizures are part of Operation Economic Fury, ordered by President Trump and executed by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control. OFAC has sanctioned over 1,000 Iran-linked entities and frozen bank accounts held by Revolutionary Guard-affiliated businesses as part of the broader effort to choke off Tehran’s access to international financial networks.
The timing reflects intensifying U.S.-Iran tensions. On February 27, the U.S. and Israel launched Operation Epic Fury, a coordinated airstrike campaign targeting Iran’s nuclear facilities, military infrastructure, and Revolutionary Guard command centers. Iran retaliated with ballistic missile strikes across the region, hitting Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE, and Iraq. A ceasefire was brokered in early April.
Tether froze the IRGC-linked USDT in late April, weeks after the ceasefire. Bessent indicated the Treasury Department had taken direct action against additional wallets beyond the Tether freeze, though he did not specify which addresses or blockchains were targeted.
“Just outright grabbed the wallets. Some of them may be typing in right now and might not realize their wallet had been grabbed,” Bessent said, describing the seizure method in stark terms.
The $1 billion figure represents a significant escalation in U.S. efforts to weaponize blockchain surveillance and asset freezing against state actors. Iran has attempted to circumvent traditional sanctions by shifting financial activity to cryptocurrency. In April, Iran reportedly planned to require ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz to pay transit tolls in Bitcoin to bypass sanctions.
The seizure underscores how OFAC sanctions mechanisms, traditionally applied to banking systems, now extend directly to decentralized blockchain networks. Tether’s cooperation in freezing the Tron addresses demonstrates the leverage the U.S. maintains over major stablecoin issuers, even when assets reside on chains not directly controlled by the company.
