According to US Central Command, since the beginning of the naval blockade of Iran on April 13, the US military has diverted more than 40 merchant ships that were allegedly trying to violate it.
“Today, the US military reached a significant milestone by diverting the 42nd merchant ship attempting to violate the blockade“, the command quoted its head, Admiral Brad Cooper, as saying.
He said the blockade is preventing Tehran from selling an estimated 69 million barrels of oil already loaded on tankers.
The US has seized assets linked to with Iran, worth nearly $500 million, according to Treasury Secretary Scott Besant.
“We have been able to seize approximately $350 million worth of crypto assets and recently received another $100 million, bringing the total to almost half a billion. We are also freezing bank accounts,“ he said in an interview with Fox Business.
On April 24, Besant announced that Washington had frozen $344 million in cryptocurrency wallets linked to Tehran and would continue to take action to deny the Islamic Republic the ability to “generate, move and repatriate funds“.