U.S. Freezes $475M in Tether USDT Linked to Iran

On July 14, the Office of Foreign Assets Control designated four Tron blockchain wallets holding about $131 million in Tether USDT as linked to the Central Bank of Iran. The action extended an April freeze of more than $344 million across two other Tron wallets; together the freezes total about $475 million. The designations were made in coordination with law enforcement.

Tether issues and administers USDT and controls the token’s contract rules. The company maintains an internal blocklist that can prevent tokens at specified addresses from being moved or redeemed while the wallet balances remain visible on the public blockchain. When authorized by legal authorities, Tether can cancel tokens at one address and reissue an equivalent amount at another address.

The Treasury Department is carrying out enforcement under an initiative called Operation Economic Fury, which targets platforms and intermediaries the department says help Iran convert local currency into dollar-pegged tokens. In June, Treasury sanctioned the exchanges Nobitex, Bitpin, Ramzinex and Wallex. Treasury reported that Nobitex processed more than half of Iran’s crypto inflows in 2025 and helped the Central Bank of Iran acquire hundreds of millions of dollars in stablecoins.

Blockchain-analysis firm estimates show Iran’s cryptocurrency ecosystem received more than $7.78 billion in 2025. Addresses linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps accounted for about half of Iran’s crypto activity in the fourth quarter and received more than $3 billion for the year. By late May, Treasury officials reported that nearly $1 billion in cryptocurrency connected to Iran had been seized or frozen as part of the campaign.

Tether adopted a policy in December 2023 to disable tokens held at addresses on OFAC’s sanctions list and has provided access to its compliance platform to some U.S. agencies. The company reports cooperation with more than 340 law enforcement agencies in 65 countries and says that collaboration has contributed to over 2,300 cases and to freezing more than $4.4 billion in assets, including over $2.1 billion connected to U.S. authorities.

In 2021, Tether agreed to pay $41 million to settle Commodity Futures Trading Commission claims about its reserve disclosures, and an affiliated exchange reached an $18.5 million settlement with New York authorities; neither settlement required an admission of wrongdoing. Tether now oversees about $184 billion of USDT in circulation, a dollar substitute used on exchanges, payment services and informal financial networks worldwide.

U.S.-Iran tensions rose recently near the Strait of Hormuz, and U.S. Central Command announced restrictions on maritime traffic to and from Iranian ports beginning July 14. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent characterized the wallet designations as part of a broader effort to disrupt revenue networks the U.S. says Iran uses to evade sanctions, and he added, “We will continue to trace and restrict the movement of those funds.”