U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Monday, in a conversation with Kambiz Tavana, a journalist with Iran International, that the Islamic Republic’s use of cryptocurrency to move money is both a way to evade and a sign of desperation, and that the U.S. Treasury Department tracks and blocks this money.

He said the money “belongs to the people of Iran, not the corrupt regime,” and that the Treasury Department “tracks the money whether cryptocurrency is involved or expensive apartments,” and keeps it in a trust account.