US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned on Sunday of severe economic consequences for Iran as Washington prepares to announce what it has termed the toughest sanctions in the country’s history against any nation.
In a column for the Financial Times, Bessent stated that the US is entering the final phase of its confrontation with Iran, reiterating claims that Washington has inflicted serious damage on Iran’s military capabilities.
“At dawn, an economic D-Day begins—the largest financial offensive ever launched against an adversary,” Bessent declared. The sanctions announcement is scheduled for a conference beginning at 9:00 PM on Monday.
Bessent stated that any country continuing to ally itself with Iran would become an “international pariah.”
His remarks came shortly after Mohsen Rezaei, Secretary of Iran’s National Security Council, warned that not “a single drop of oil” would be exported—neither through the Strait of Hormuz nor “anywhere else in the Persian Gulf”—if the economic war against Iran continues.
Iran is already subject to harsh US restrictions on oil sales and other economic activities. Washington also largely maintains a naval blockade of the country, particularly after the peace agreement reached in June effectively collapsed.
US President Donald Trump and his administration have repeatedly claimed total victory over Iran and the opening of the Strait of Hormuz to commercial shipping. However, recent data indicate that shipping activity in the Strait has fallen to a negligible fraction of pre-war levels amid persistent fears of Iranian attacks on vessels attempting to pass through the waterway. The war, which is on the verge of passing the six-month mark, opened a new front in August: Iran-backed Yemeni Houthi rebels declared a naval blockade of Saudi Arabia and began attacking vessels in the Red Sea.
Iran called on the US to lift the naval blockade before resuming any negotiations and demanded that Washington abide by the terms of the peace agreement.
However, the agreement expired in early August, and neither side expressed an intention to renew it.
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