Bessent says new US sanctions aim to block all potential sources of revenue for Iran
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced a new round of sanctions aimed at Iran on Monday and warned every country that does business with the Islamic Republic to sever those financial ties or face retaliation from the US.
The new warnings to further cut off Iran from the rest of the world economy were issued after President Donald Trump pledged last week to unleash an “economic D-Day” against Tehran as the administration struggles to find an off-ramp after nearly six months of war.
“We are level-setting with every country to tell them our expectations. We know who they are. They know who they are,” Bessent told a news conference. “So when the hammer of US Treasury actions falls upon them, they will have no one to blame but themselves.”
Washington has promised the new sanctions would put even more pressure on an Iranian economy already battered by previous sanctions and a US naval blockade.
But the announcement Monday provided little detail and did not name which countries could face secondary sanctions. China, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates are Iran's largest trade partners.
Bessent said Trump has been “making phone calls to world leaders with specific requests to cease their interactions” with Iran and has already seen results.
The UAE announced last week that it was suspending all trade, commercial exchanges and financial transactions with Iran until further notice after a reported missile attack on the Gulf country.
“I am confident the president, as you all know, is quite persuasive,” Bessent said, adding that the UAE decision was “not a coincidence."
Shortly before the announcement, Iranian parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said the US is not in an economic position to further restrict Tehran's relations with other countries.
“Iran's trading partners, both in the media and through messages sent to us, have made it clear that they don't take these statements into account anywhere,” Ghalibaf, who has been Iran's lead negotiator over the past six months, posted on X.
Hours before Bessent's announcement, Iran's currency hit a record low.
The rial dropped to 2.02 million to the US dollar as trading opened on currency markets. Iran's official Central Bank rate stood at around 1.5 million rial to the dollar, but the market rate is what most Iranians pay.
The currency had already been under pressure before the US and Israel attacked Iran on Feb 28, as Tehran faced double-digit inflation and negative growth. The rial has repeatedly hit new lows as nearly six months of war have taken an even greater toll.
Iranians find daily staples increasingly unaffordable. Since the war began, rice is up some 60% and beef prices are more than 150% higher. The International Monetary Fund forecasts that gross domestic product will contract more than 5%.
Still, economic pressure has not yet translated into political pressure. Iran retains a key strategic advantage: Its attacks and threats on ships in the Strait of Hormuz have brought traffic in the vital waterway to a near halt, damaging the world economy and heaping pressure on US President Donald Trump ahead of congressional elections.
The war, as a result, has devolved into a fight over who controls the strait, through which a fifth of the world's traded oil transited before the conflict. Iran is now refusing to fully reopen it unless it can charge ships.
Iran and Oman, which is on the opposite side of the strait, are reportedly in the final stages of agreeing on a plan for joint management of the waterway. Oman's foreign minister is set to visit Iran on Tuesday.
Pakistan, which played a key role in brokering a 60-day ceasefire in June, sent a high-level delegation to Iran on Monday to encourage the US and Iran to return to negotiations, two senior officials said.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media on the record.
The military confirmed only Field Marshal Asim Munir's visit, saying it was aimed at de-escalating tensions in the region.
Trump spoke with Munir ahead of the army chief's visit to Iran, according to a person familiar with the discussion. The person spoke on condition of anonymity to confirm a private conversation. Reuters, citing Pakistani sources, first reported the call.
Munir met Iranian Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni in Tehran, according to the two senior officials. Munir was accompanied by Pakistani Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and other officials.
Munir was expected to remain in Iran overnight and meet the Iranian president and other senior officials before returning to Pakistan.
His previous visit to Tehran in May helped pave the way for a memorandum of understanding signed by the US and Iran in June.
In downtown Tehran, 73-year-old Sadegh Mahmoudi did not hold out hope for a resolution. He joined a line of about a dozen people to purchase US dollars with his remaining savings to hedge against further declines.
“There is no hope for a deal and peace,” he said.
(Sourced through PTI)
