US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said Washington has seized “close to half a billion” dollars in Iranian cryptocurrency assets, adding that its “Operation Economic Fury” has pushed the government in Tehran into “crisis”, reports Al Jazeera.

“We were able to secure around $350 million in crypto assets, in addition to a further $100 million obtained recently, bringing the total to nearly half a billion. We are also freezing bank accounts globally,” Bessent told Fox News.

He said the economic pressure campaign had been authorised by President Donald Trump in March last year, and that he had been instructed to “intensify the pressure” again about three weeks ago.