The United States is set for what Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has described as the “greatest financial offensive ever marshalled” against Iran, with new sanctions expected to target countries and businesses that continue trading with Tehran.“President Trump has dismantled Iran’s military capabilities, destroyed nearly 100 percent of its military factories, and buried its nuclear program. We are now entering the endgame. At dawn begins an economic D-Day — the single greatest financial offensive ever marshaled against an adversary,” said Bessent in a post on X.“The Islamic Republic has subsisted by dressing extortion as security guarantees. It has drawn strength from a calculus that regards Iranian retaliation as certain and American enforcement as negotiable. Under President Trump, that era is over. And those who fear the danger of defying Tehran ought not to discount the cost of testing Washington,” he added.Further continuing the threat against Iran, the treasury secretary warned, “The President has created the conditions to leverage every agency, every authority and action many assumed we would never summon. Our objective is to sever every economic lifeline that sustains the tyrannical regime until Tehran stands alone.”Bessent is also set to hold a press conference at 2 pm EDT (1800 GMT) on Monday, when he is expected to outline the new measures. In an opinion article published in the Financial Times on Sunday, he said the US would target countries that engage with Iran’s economy and financial system despite Washington’s pressure.“They would do well to consider the consequences of sustaining it,” Bessent wrote, referring to countries he accused of practising “appeasement” towards Tehran.Iran has responded with a threat of its own, warning that it could halt all oil exports from the Persian Gulf if Washington continues what it called an “economic war”.The escalation comes even as direct military action between the US and Iran has paused. The two sides have not exchanged major strikes for weeks, but neither has returned to meaningful negotiations to end the six-month-old conflict.
Oil and Hormuz in the crosshairs
Iranian officials have warned that economic pressure could trigger a wider confrontation in the Gulf.Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said on Sunday that Iran could stop oil exports through the Strait of Hormuz and from elsewhere in the Persian Gulf if the sanctions campaign continued. He also warned that Tehran would consider any country supporting the US economic offensive to be participating in an “act of war”.The threat carries global implications. Iran has retained missile and drone capabilities that could threaten Gulf states and shipping, while disruption in the Strait of Hormuz has already brought tanker traffic through the key waterway close to a standstill and pushed up global fuel prices.Bessent has also called on China to cooperate with the US, pointing to its dependence on Gulf oil for roughly half of its imports.Beijing has rejected the pressure campaign. A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington said sanctions and pressure would not resolve the dispute and called for diplomacy instead.The new measures would hit an Iranian economy already weakened by years of sanctions, high inflation, a falling currency, energy shortages and structural problems.The latest escalation also comes as efforts to revive negotiations remain limited. The last direct US-Iran talks took place in Switzerland in June, with Qatar, Pakistan and Turkey since trying to mediate.Pakistan said its army chief, Asim Munir, would visit Tehran on Monday as part of efforts to restore regional peace and security. A Pakistani government source said the US threat of fresh sanctions would be among the issues discussed.The diplomatic efforts come against a backdrop of continued uncertainty over Iran’s nuclear programme, which Washington and Israel have sought to dismantle.
