The U.S. Treasury plans to sanction another bank this week over its ties to Iran, Secretary Scott Bessent said, as part of a campaign to sever the country's financial links abroad. The move follows Friday's action against a UAE bank branch and comes as Iran's rial trades at crisis-level lows.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the Trump administration plans to sanction another bank this week to clamp down on transactions tied to Iran. He made the comments in an interview with The Associated Press ahead of Group of 20 meetings in Asheville, North Carolina, where he will meet individually with counterparts from major and developing economies to encourage participation in Iran's economic isolation.
According to Bessent: "This is going to be financial violence if we have to."
New campaign targets Iran's financial ties
Bessent recently launched a campaign pushing countries that still do business with Iran to sever their financial ties or face retaliation from Washington. The Treasury Department moved on Friday to sanction the United Arab Emirates branch of Egyptian bank Banque Misr over its financial ties to Iran, intending to revoke the branch's access to U.S. financial institutions.
That action came four days after Bessent launched "Operation Economic Outcast," a sanctions campaign aiming to sever all of Iran's economic ties around the world.
Rial nears worthlessness
The pressure lands as Iran's currency struggles. Iran's rial has collapsed on the informal foreign-exchange market, with the currency at one point valued at approximately 2.02 million per U.S. dollar. The depreciation has pushed citizens toward gold and other assets as the rial approaches near worthlessness.
The turmoil has fueled speculation over President Masoud Pezeshkian's future, with prediction markets pricing a moderate increase in the probability that he steps down by the end of the year.
Sources: CNBC, Crypto Briefing
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