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Home Front: WoT
U.S. seizes $500 million in IRGC crypto and their French villas
2026-05-03
From last Thursday. More on the efforts of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who has been getting creative.
[CoffeeAndCovid] Late last week, Rooters thinly reported, "US sanctions wallets tied to Iran, freezing $344 million in cryptocurrency, Bessent says." The story was so thin it was just one sentence. (Crypto News provided a little more detail.)

So far as I can tell—and the facts remain as murky as the water at the Kharg Island dock— the State of Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate Jews Zionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
owned the seized cryptocurrency. Since crypto’s main purpose is to preserve anonymity (like cash), it was likely used for smuggling, evading international sanctions, funding terror proxies, cybercrimes and ransomware, and other nefarious purposes.

Anyway, Scott Bessent is vacuuming it all up now. He reported yesterday that the total seized is now up to $500 million.

Yesterday, Secretary Bessent told Fox Business that the Treasury Department is ramping up "Operation Economic Fury" and is now "sprinting for the finish line."

Specifically, the US Treasury has found and frozen secret bank accounts owned by IRGC officials, preserving the money "for the Iranian people." Hilariously, Bessent also announced we are now seizing IRGC officers’ "villas in the South of La Belle France and all over the world," including, unsurprisingly, London. (Because nothing screams ’Death to the Great Satan™!’ quite like yelling it from the balcony of your six-bedroom chateau in Cannes while sipping mimosas and checking your crypto wallet.)

In his bland, straightforward way, Bessent said, "We will track them down," sounding more like he was announcing a scheduled expansion of Treasury restroom facilities instead of burning up IRGC officials’ bugout bags amidst a war.

This is the key. We’ve learned that the Iranian Elite Republican Guard Corps (IRGC) is a parasitic mega-corporation that has co-opted the elected government of Iran, and uses the apparatus of state to suck blood and treasure out of the Iranian people, all to enrich a secretive class of demented hypocrites who cosplay as religious maniacs but are really violent mostly peaceful mobsters with missiles and an army.

You couldn’t possibly imagine a less democratic system of government. It’s not a theocracy. It’s a heavily armed kleptocracy.

Not that any of that troubles our corporate media types. We shouldn’t judge other cultures. But let’s do a thought experiment. Suppose we discovered that all our top Pentagon officials had secret overseas bank accounts stuffed with millions, villas in the South of La Belle France, and so on. How would the U.S. media report that? But when it comes to Iran— crickets.

So Operation Economic Fury may not simply be a curious sideshow to the greater war. That, combined with the Trump Blockade, might be the main action. The United States Military has defanged the IRGC’s military capabilities. For proof, just ask yourself— when was the last time Iran lobbed a missile at anyone?

Its oil wells are full and will soon begin losing permanent capacity. Its ports are closed to any kind of foreign trade, especially oil sales. It’s under a naval blockade. Now comes the real leverage— taking the IRGC mobsters’ toys and Swiss bank accounts away. It’s what you might call a "rubber meets road" moment. The IRGC’s ’mullahs’ constantly brag about how they’ll happily become deaders if needed.

But ... are the anonymous leaders of Iran’s private army willing to become paupers for the cause? That’s the real question.
Related:
Cryptocurrency 04/27/2026 The Times: 600 large commercial vessels remain in the Strait of Hormuz
Cryptocurrency 04/25/2026 The Current State Of Ethics In Government
Cryptocurrency 04/25/2026 NYT Opinion Page Goes Way Over the Line - NYT Now Promoting 'Microlooting' as Social Justice

Related:
Scott Bessent 05/02/2026 Iran submits new proposal to end war; Trump says he’s ‘not satisfied’
Scott Bessent 04/30/2026 Some Republicans Know How to Win
Scott Bessent 04/28/2026 Sec Rubio lays down law over Straits of Hormuz: Iran does not get to collect tolls

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