TLDR
- The US Treasury froze over $130 million in crypto tied to Iran’s Central Bank on July 15, 2026
- Four Tron wallets holding $131 million in USDT were frozen by Tether at US request
- This follows a larger $344 million USDT freeze in April 2026
- The action is part of Operation Economic Fury, targeting Iran’s digital asset networks
- US-Iran military tensions have escalated, with fresh strikes and port blockades confirmed
The United States government has frozen more than $131 million in cryptocurrency linked to the Central Bank of Iran. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confirmed the action on July 15, saying the funds were held in wallets sanctioned by the Office of Foreign Assets Control.
.@USTreasury is committed to disrupting and degrading Iran’s illicit financial activities, including its abuse of digital assets. Today, Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned multiple wallets tied to the Central Bank of Iran, resulting in the freeze of over $130…
— Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (@SecScottBessent) July 14, 2026
Blockchain investigator Specter identified four wallets on the Tron network holding a combined $131 million in Tether’s USDT stablecoin. Tether froze the addresses using controls built into the token itself, not through changes to the Tron blockchain.
“US Treasury is committed to disrupting and degrading Iran’s illicit financial activities, including its abuse of digital assets,” Bessent said. “We will continue to aggressively follow the money.”
A Pattern of Crypto Freezes
This is not the first time US authorities have moved against Iran-linked crypto wallets. In April 2026, Tether froze about $344 million in USDT across two Tron wallets after US authorities linked the addresses to Iranian networks.
One of those April wallets held around $213 million. Blockchain analysis found transaction patterns tied to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and intermediaries linked to the Central Bank of Iran.
By May 2026, Treasury Secretary Bessent said the US had seized or frozen nearly $1 billion in Iran-linked cryptocurrency in total. Earlier estimates had put the figure closer to $500 million after the April action.
The freezes are part of a broader US campaign called Operation Economic Fury, which launched in March 2025. The operation targets crypto exchanges, wallets, and traditional financial networks accused of helping Iran evade sanctions and finance its military.
Iran Sanctions and the Role of Stablecoins
In June 2026, Treasury sanctioned four Iranian crypto exchanges, including Nobitex. Officials said Nobitex handled more than half of Iranian digital asset inflows in 2025.
The latest action shows how centralized stablecoins like USDT can be used as a law enforcement tool. Unlike Bitcoin, USDT has issuer-level controls that allow Tether to block specific addresses from moving funds.
Tether has used these controls in several cases, including the April Iran-linked freeze and a separate July action involving wallets connected to alleged ISIS-K financing.
The $131 million freeze comes as US-Iran military tensions have risen sharply. US Central Command confirmed fresh strikes on Iranian military targets and the resumption of a port blockade this week, after a June pause in hostilities broke down.
Iran’s military claimed it carried out drone strikes on US facilities at Jordan’s Al Azraq Air Base on the same day the freeze was announced.
Treasury has confirmed the wallets were linked to Iran’s Central Bank and that the funds are now frozen. Public statements have not disclosed how the assets were originally obtained.
