Washington: The US is issuing deadlines to countries to cease all financial dealings with Iran as part of a new “Operation Economic Outcast” aimed at isolating the Islamic regime in Tehran from the rest of the world.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said President Donald Trump was calling his global counterparts to issue an ultimatum that they must cease all commercial interactions with Iran, or face exclusion from the US financial system.
“Our objective is to sever every economic lifeline that sustains this tyrannical regime until Tehran stands alone,” Bessent said at a news conference in Washington on Monday (US time).
“It is no longer acceptable to operate in the grey spaces of this conflict … Any entity that facilitates money laundering on behalf of Iran will be removed from the US dollar system. The clock just started ticking.”
In a speech that was heavy on threatening rhetoric, Bessent likened the announcement to D-Day – the start of the allied invasion of Nazi-controlled Europe during World War II.
But he provided few specifics, and did not unveil any immediate secondary sanctions against other countries or banks. He said it was likely that a major financial institution would be hit with sanctions by the end of the week.
Every branch of Iran’s Bank Melli – the largest regime-controlled commercial bank – must be shuttered and dark, Bessent said.
Asked about actions targeting Chinese banks – which along with intermediaries process the bulk of Iranian oil sales – Bessent said the US preferred to use “quiet diplomacy” to engage with other countries.
“No one is above the reach of the US sanctions,” he told reporters. “If they facilitate transactions and are part of the ecosystem that turns Iranian oil into money – into repression – they will be targeted.”
In particular, the US was targeting Iran’s lifelines in digital assets, technology, gold, aviation and shipping, Bessent said. Treasury was drawing up sanctions against more than 60 entities, individuals and vessels that enabled Iran to buy nuclear and missile technology, conduct cyber operations and generate oil revenue.
The move signals a transition in the war against Iran from primarily a military conflict to an economic battle where the US will try to use the weight of its financial system to cut Tehran off from all revenue.
Friday marks the six-month anniversary of the war, which Trump initially said would last four to six weeks. Although fighting has subsided for most of that time, a peace deal to end the conflict has proved elusive.
Trump pulled back from a threatened military offensive against Iran’s energy infrastructure and bridges, but reinstated a naval blockade on all Iranian ports in July. Meanwhile, the US is trying to establish safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz for the rest of the world’s ships.
Shortly before Bessent’s speech, Iranian parliamentary speaker Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf, who signed the now-expired memorandum of understanding with the US, said no one was buying America’s “bombast”.
“The United States is not in an economic position to further restrict its 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 said on X.
More to come
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Michael Koziol is the North America correspondent for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald. He is a former Sydney editor, Sun-Herald deputy editor and a federal political reporter in Canberra.Connect via X or email.From our partners
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