Tether answers Senate Democrats' Iran report: Ardoino says it froze wallets an average of four weeks before sanctions landed, and that Iran-linked stablecoin volume is down 94%

Three weeks after Senate investigators called USDT a lifeline for Iran's shadow banking network, Tether has answered with numbers of its own. Chief executive Paolo Ardoino wrote on X on Monday that Senator Richard Blumenthal's analysis misses the point that Tether froze suspect addresses on average four weeks before the US Treasury's sanctions office or Israel's NBCTF formally designated them, and ahead of Chainalysis labels in 99% of cases since 2023, CoinDesk reported. The result, he said, is a 94% fall in Iran-linked stablecoin volumes.

Crypto Briefing adds outside data that points the same way: TRM Labs found USDT's share of on-chain volume in Iran-attributed wallets dropped from 67% in 2025 to 14% by August 2026. Tether says it has blocked about $550 million of Iran-linked USDT over the past year. Neither outlet explains how the 94% figure was calculated; it is Tether's own number.

The report it answers came from the Democratic staff of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations on September 28. It analysed 846 wallets sanctioned or blocked for Iran ties, found that 87% of 757 wallets tied to terrorism financing transacted mainly in USDT, and said Tether had repeatedly failed to freeze wallets with strong illicit-finance signals, The Block reported. Blumenthal asked the attorney general and the Treasury secretary to investigate.

Speaking at DC Fintech Week last week, Ardoino said the report went to the media before Tether could review it. "I believe it's important for the public also to hear our side of the story," he said, per CoinDesk. CoinDesk notes that prediction-market odds of Democrats regaining the Senate have been rising; a Democratic majority could widen Blumenthal's investigative powers.