Tether Says 2026 Iran-Linked USDT Freezes Total About $550 Million

Tether said in an announcement dated September 28, 2026, that actions involving its USD₮ stablecoin have resulted in approximately $550 million in assets frozen during 2026 across wallets that U.S. authorities identified as connected to Iran’s Central Bank and Iranian sanctions networks. The disclosure came as the U.S. Department of the Treasury expands its campaign against Iran’s sanctions-evasion networks, including through digital assets.

In April 2026, Tether supported the U.S. government in freezing more than $344 million in USD₮ across two addresses, acting on information provided by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and U.S. law enforcement, according to the company. The following day, OFAC formally added those same addresses as digital currency identifiers for the Central Bank of Iran.

OFAC’s April 24, 2026 action updated the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) List entry for Bank Markazi Jomhouri Islami Iran, the Central Bank of Iran, adding two TRX digital currency addresses: TNiq9AXBp9EjUqhDhrwrfvAA8U3GUQZH81 and TTiDLWE6fZK8okMJv6ijg42yrH6W2pjSr9. The entry states that the bank is subject to secondary sanctions and is linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)-Qods Force and Hizballah. The same action added shipping companies and tankers to the SDN List, and OFAC issued Iran-related General License V, authorizing the wind-down of transactions involving Hengli Petrochemical (Dalian) Refinery Co., Ltd.

In July 2026, more than $130 million in USD₮ across four wallets was frozen as Treasury expanded the Central Bank of Iran designation to include four additional TRON addresses, according to Tether. The company stated that together those actions amount to approximately $550 million in Iran-linked USD₮ frozen in 2026 alone.

Operation Economic Outcast

The announcement tied the disclosure to Treasury’s expanded sanctions campaign. In remarks dated August 24, 2026, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that, at President Trump’s direction, Treasury had begun Operation Economic Outcast, which he described as an unprecedented campaign against Iran and its enablers, intended to sever the financial networks supporting the Iranian regime and the IRGC. Bessent said new sectoral sanctions determinations issued that day target five lifelines Iran exploits in other countries: digital assets, technology, gold, aviation, and shipping. He said the measures broaden secondary sanctions risk and that OFAC was simultaneously sanctioning more than 60 entities, individuals, and vessels worldwide that enable the Iranian regime to procure illicit nuclear and missile technology, conduct cyber operations, and generate oil revenue.

Policy and Cooperation Record

Tether stated that it has aligned its wallet-freezing policy with the OFAC SDN List, extending sanctions controls to secondary-market wallets listed on the SDN List.

“Tether has consistently demonstrated that USD₮ is not a haven for sanctioned actors, terrorist organizations or criminal networks,” CEO Paolo Ardoino said. “Public blockchains provide authorities with a level of visibility into the movement of funds that simply does not exist with cash, and Tether can act when credible information is provided by law enforcement.” Ardoino said Tether remains in regular and direct coordination with authorities in the United States and around the world.

“Financial crime does not become invisible simply because it touches a blockchain,” Ardoino added. “In many cases, the opposite is true.”

Tether stated that its counter-terrorist financing cooperation extends beyond the U.S. actions. The company has worked with Israel’s National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing (NBCTF) for several years; in 2023, Tether publicly disclosed that, working in alignment with the bureau, it had frozen 32 addresses containing $873,118.34 associated with illicit activity impacting Israel and Ukraine. To date, the company stated, it has frozen more than 22 million USDT in more than 40 separate cases referred by the bureau, involving more than 640 addresses.

In September 2025, the bureau published a list of 187 cryptocurrency addresses it said were associated with the IRGC. According to Tether’s announcement, blockchain analytics firm Elliptic subsequently reported that 39 of those addresses had been blacklisted by Tether, freezing approximately $1.5 million in USD₮ that remained in the wallets.

Tether stated that it works with more than 340 law enforcement agencies across 67 countries, supporting more than 2,800 investigations globally, including more than 1,500 involving U.S. law enforcement. Those efforts have resulted in more than $4.9 billion in assets frozen, including more than $2.4 billion connected to U.S. authorities, according to the company. Tether said it works directly with the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Secret Service, Homeland Security Investigations, and OFAC.

The announcement listed earlier actions in which it said U.S. agencies publicly acknowledged Tether’s assistance. In September 2026, coordinated action involving the DOJ Scam Center Strike Force against a marketplace serving scam centers worldwide restrained more than $52 million in a single day. Tether assisted authorities in a $225.3 million scam investigation that the U.S. Secret Service described at the time as the largest cryptocurrency seizure in its history. In February 2026, federal agents seized more than $61 million in USD₮ connected to an alleged cryptocurrency investment fraud operation. In December 2025, the Justice Department announced the seizure of nearly $8.5 million in USD₮ traced by the FBI to alleged investment fraud. Tether assisted U.S. authorities in freezing approximately $23 million in illicit funds connected to Garantex, a sanctioned Russian exchange, and assisted in the seizure of approximately $1.4 million in USD₮ from an alleged tech-support scheme primarily targeting elderly Americans. In 2025, Tether assisted U.S. authorities in freezing and reissuing approximately $1.6 million in USD₮ tied to Buy Cash Money and Money Transfer Company, a Gaza-based financial network identified in a DOJ civil forfeiture action involving terrorist financing.