US Seizes One Billion Dollars in Iranian Crypto as Regime Reels from Trump-Era Crackdown [WATCH]

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is making clear that Iran’s financial lifelines are snapping, fast.

Speaking at the Reagan National Economic Forum, Bessent revealed that the United States seized nearly one billion dollars in Iranian cryptocurrency as part of a sweeping pressure campaign that is proving devastating for the Tehran regime.

Joining Larry Kudlow on FOX Business, Bessent outlined “Operation Economic Fury,” the U.S. program that has been systematically targeting Iran’s finances and assets worldwide.

The effort builds on five weeks of strong military operations and has now evolved into a full-scale economic blitz meant to strangle the Iranian regime’s war chest.

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“We have seized about a billion dollars of their crypto,” Bessent said.

“Just outright grabbed the wallets.”

Bessent described how the campaign is squeezing Iran harder than ever before.

“Between five and a half to six weeks of an incredibly successful military campaign and Operation Economic Fury, where we have really cut them off, they are at the end of their tether now financially,” he said, highlighting just how desperate Tehran’s leaders have become.

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The Iranian government, according to Bessent, is unraveling.

“I think 40 or 50% of the troops aren’t getting paid. Police aren’t reporting to the station. Inflation is probably over 200%. They’re having to give out food vouchers. They have turned off the internet.”

In other words, when a totalitarian regime shuts down communication and resorts to ration cards, you know the walls are closing in.

Launched in March 2025, Operation Economic Fury has targeted corruption and wealth siphoning at the highest levels of Iran’s leadership.

The U.S. Treasury has frozen accounts, confiscated homes and properties belonging to top theocrats, and pressured European allies to join in.

“We are working with our allies all over Europe to grab villas and houses and properties,” Bessent said.

“And this is money that’s stolen from the Iranian people.”

Before American action, Iranian leaders were pocketing between four hundred and five hundred million dollars a month through illicit oil sales, crypto schemes, and state-run corruption.

The crackdown has not only frozen that flow but has stripped away Tehran’s ability to prop up its militant proxy networks abroad.

Bessent appeared beside President Donald Trump, who held a White House meeting on Friday to discuss a “final determination” on Iran.

Trump reportedly told close aides that Iran is “starving for cash” and “collapsing financially.”

Bessent echoed that resolve, saying, “We did not have regime change, but we changed the regime. The first level leaders were decapitated, the second level decapitated. So, we’re dealing with the third level.”

That kind of talk sent a shiver through Iranian command circles, which have seen much of their senior leadership neutralized.

What remains, Bessent explained, are factions of mullahs clinging to fading theocratic power and Iran’s Revolutionary Guard hardliners fighting to preserve their fiefdoms.

“It is very tough because on one side, we have a theocracy with the clerics. On the other, a thug autocracy with the IRGC. And you’ve got to convince both sides,” he said.

Bessent credited Iran’s recent regional aggression for making his job easier.

When Tehran attacked several Gulf countries in the region, it not only united the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states against Iran but also opened their banking systems to greater transparency.

“Before, many of our Gulf allies were less than transparent about their banking system, saying, ‘Oh no, we don’t have any Iranian oil,’” he noted.

“After those missile and drone attacks, they suddenly became very open.”

That shift allowed the U.S. and European allies to track, freeze, and seize massive amounts of Iranian money funneled through shadowy Gulf accounts.

It also helped tighten enforcement of the American naval blockade on Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz, a mission that young U.S. service members have embraced.

“They’ve done an incredible job,” Bessent said.

“When I talked to General Caine and Secretary Hegseth, they said, ‘Look, these young people aren’t afraid. They want to fight. This is what they signed up for.’”

For all the talk about Iran’s military aggressiveness, the regime now faces its most dangerous opponent yet: economic collapse.

Double-digit inflation has turned to triple-digit chaos, soldiers are deserting, and the regime is rationing basic goods.

Tehran is discovering that while it can harass cargo ships or toss propaganda across the airwaves, it cannot outsmart the American Treasury.

The Biden era inaction on Iran gave the regime breathing room, but the Trump-Bessent playbook has redirected U.S. leverage back to what works: economic strength. Every seized asset, every frozen account, and every isolated Iranian bank represents another crack in the wall that protects Tehran’s ruling elite from its own angry population.

As Bessent put it, Iran is at “the end of their tether.”

WATCH:

With its crypto pipeline blocked, its generals unpaid, and its propaganda machine buried in debt, the regime faces what looks less like a standoff and more like a countdown.

For millions of long-suffering Iranians, that may be welcome news. For the ayatollahs, it is a nightmare that even oil money cannot buy them out of this time.

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