Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will hold a press conference Monday to detail new U.S. sanctions on Iran, which he describes as the toughest ever imposed on the country. Washington is also threatening penalties against banks in China, Hong Kong, the UAE, and Oman that facilitate Iranian transactions, while Tehran's Revolutionary Guard has dismissed the campaign as a sign of military failure.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will hold a press conference Monday to explain new sanctions against Iran that he describes as the greatest campaign of coordinated economic isolation ever assembled against a single country. According to CNBC: "toughest sanctions in history" is how he characterized the measures in the same interview, adding that the U.S. intends to force a collapse of the Islamic Republic's economy.
Bessent frames the campaign as economic warfare
Writing in the Financial Times on Sunday, Bessent described the moment as an economic turning point and said the U.S. would demand that allies and other countries stop doing business with Iran or face the full force of American enforcement.
Bessent has also branded the initiative "Operation Economic Fury," which he called the financial equivalent of a bombing campaign, according to Crypto Briefing. The shift moves the U.S. approach to Iran from a Pentagon-led posture toward one led by the Treasury Department.
Secondary sanctions target foreign banks
Washington is threatening financial institutions in China, Hong Kong, the UAE, and Oman with penalties for facilitating Iranian transactions, forcing foreign banks and companies to choose between doing business with Iran and doing business with the United States. Recent rounds of sanctions have already hit networks tied to Ali Shamkhani, along with entities involved in oil smuggling. Further measures were expected as early as August 24, 2026.
President Donald Trump had already said last week that the U.S. would target Iran with the most crushing economic operation ever taken against any country, according to CNBC, and warned on Truth Social that any nation helping Iran evade sanctions would face severe financial penalties.
Tehran dismisses the threat
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has dismissed the Trump administration's threats, with a spokesperson saying Sunday that the country has ways to counter the adverse effects and can still establish economic relations with other countries. State media quoted the spokesperson calling the U.S. campaign an implicit admission of America's own military failure.
Iran's economy is already under strain from persistent inflation and fuel shortages, a position Bessent echoed in the Financial Times, writing that the rial has never been weaker and inflation has rarely been higher. Bessent's press conference on Monday is expected to lay out the specific measures behind the campaign.
Sources: CNBC, Financial Times, Crypto Briefing
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