The Treasury secretary said more details of the plan will be announced on Aug. 24 and urged America’s allies to join the United States.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Aug. 20 that the United States will impose the “toughest sanctions in history on Iran,” the details of which will be announced on Monday.
In an interview with CNBC on Thursday, Bessent said he planned to hold a press conference on Aug. 24 to share the Trump administration’s plan to increase economic pressure on Iran following months of military conflict. The Iran war, which started on Feb. 28, restarted last month following the collapse of a memorandum of understanding between Washington and Tehran.
“It is a one-two punch. We have the blockade, and we are going to have the toughest sanctions in history, and I will tell you this will work. It worked in Venezuela once we put up the blockade. It is working in Cuba right now, and it is going to work in Iran—and we are going to collapse this regime,” Bessent said.
The secretary’s comments came after President Donald Trump announced on Aug. 19 that the United States was going to engage in major economic warfare against Iran. He said that economic sanctions and isolation would be carried out at an “unprecedented scale.”
Bessent on Thursday called for America’s allies to join the United States in imposing the “greatest coordinated economic isolation in the history of the world.” He said it was time for America’s allies and the rest of the world to make a decision as the United States prepares to increase economic pressure on Iran and “squash the economy of this murderous regime.”
“And we are going to them and saying you are either with us or against us,” Bessent said.
The secretary warned that countries continuing to do business with Iran by transferring money, purchasing oil, or conducting seaborne ship transfers would face the “full might and force” of the U.S. Treasury and the federal government.
By increasing economic pressure on Iran, the Trump administration will reduce the regime’s ability to project power through its proxy network, Bessent said. He added that Tehran would also be unable to pay the military as the country faces additional sanctions and ongoing inflation.
In a Wednesday post on Truth Social, Trump said the Iranian regime had failed to take advantage of the opportunity he had given it to make a deal. As a result, he announced that the United States would launch the “MOST CRUSHING ECONOMIC OPERATION EVER TAKEN AGAINST ANY COUNTRY.” The president did not immediately provide details on what the economic operation would include.
“This will be an ECONOMIC D-DAY, and we need all of our Allies to stand with the United States of America to isolate, and defeat, the Iran threat,” Trump said. “These maniacs are on the ropes, and these HISTORIC MEASURES will cripple them and their ability to project terror worldwide.”
