U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bosworth stated that the United States "may seize $1 billion in crypto assets this week" as part of actions against Iran.

The U.S. Treasury Department has announced several digital asset seizure actions related to sanctions against Iran.

Bessent stated on Thursday at the NPolicy summit in Newsmax, that the seizure of these crypto assets as part of this plan is a component of the sanctions imposed by the United States against Iran amid the latest round of military conflicts, which began in February. He did not clarify whether these digital assets were targeted at specific exchanges or whether they resulted from interventions by stablecoin issuers.

“We know where it is, and we are isolating them,” Bessent said to Greta Van Susteren of Newsmax. He added that this move is part of a strategy to cut off Iran’s economic ties.

In August, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the U.S. Treasury Department announced that it was taking action against cryptocurrency exchanges that assisted in transferring funds to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran. At that time, Bessent stated that the United States planned to "increase economic pressure on Iran," focusing on targeting financial networks that provided funding for that country's regime, "whether it be in dollars, rials, or cryptocurrencies."

The U.S. Treasury Secretary made a similar statement in an interview in April, stating that authorities had seized $500 million in crypto assets related to Iran. In September, the stablecoin issuer Tether stated that in 2026, it had frozen USDt ( USDT ) worth $550 million in accordance with U.S. sanctions against Iran, of which $344 million was frozen in just April alone.

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