BroadChain learned that on April 26 at 04:06, according to Bitcoinist, the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced on April 24 that it had frozen two Tron blockchain wallets linked to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Hezbollah, involving approximately $344 million. The day prior, stablecoin issuer Tether had frozen an equivalent amount of USDT at the request of law enforcement.
According to reports, Iran had previously begun collecting Bitcoin as a transit fee from ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz and had already obtained some revenue. The strait is one of the world's most critical oil and cargo shipping channels. Recently, Iran has been accused of attacking three merchant vessels, while the U.S. military has implemented a blockade, leading to ongoing tensions.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent stated that this move aims to systematically weaken Iran's ability to generate, transfer, and repatriate funds. This freezing incident highlights that even when cryptocurrencies are used as a tool to evade sanctions, cooperation with centralized stablecoin issuers in law enforcement can still effectively cut off related fund flows.