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Sanctions unveiled Monday
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Monday that the administration is launching an “economic onslaught” of sanctions against Iran, targeting third-party countries that provide “financial lifelines” to the Tehran regime.
“Today, we are launching Operation Economic Outcasts”
Bessent framed the effort as “Operation Economic Outcasts,” saying Iran “faces a very clear choice, with only two paths before them,” and he warned that the U.S. would no longer tolerate third-party countries operating in “gray spaces” of the conflict with Iran.
President Donald Trump declared in a Truth Social post that “IRAN IS COMPLETELY COLLAPSING!!!” as the sanctions push was set to be unveiled.
CBS News reported that Trump said Monday that Iran was “collapsing” before the U.S. unveiled nearly six-month war to heap economic pressure on Iran’s rulers, and it described the Treasury plan as amounting to “the single greatest financial offensive ever marshalled against an adversary.”
Tehran vows retaliation
Iran’s national police chief, Brig. Gen. Ahmad-Reza Radan, warned Monday that the “enemy is seeking to create unrest” by exploiting grievances including “livelihoods, gasoline, the economy and unemployment,” hours before the U.S. Treasury unveiled the new sanctions package.
Radan urged police to adopt a preemptive approach to unrest, including identifying “hidden networks in society and on social media,” as CBS News noted the sanctions were tied to Trump’s “economic D-Day.”
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said on Monday that the Trump administration was “repeating methods that have proven unsuccessful” and that “Iran will certainly use all multilateral capacities to counter economic sanctions.”
The New York Times reported that Mohsen Rezaei threatened that “not a single drop of oil will be exported” from the region and said Iran would regard “any country’s participation in or support for America’s economic war against the Iranian people as an act of war.”
Strait of Hormuz and markets
The sanctions campaign is unfolding alongside continued pressure on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, with CBS News saying talks between Iran and Oman on future management of the Strait of Hormuz were set to continue Tuesday.
“When the unofficial foreign-exchange market opened on Aug. 24, the Iranian rial fell to 2.02 million per dollar”
Fox News reported that Bessent’s “economic D-Day” is aimed at giving a final warning to countries to sever business ties with Iran in an effort to force an end to the nearly six-month conflict that has bottled up the Strait of Hormuz and Gulf energy exports.
Bloomingbit reported that when the unofficial foreign-exchange market opened on Aug. 24, the Iranian rial fell to 2.02 million per dollar, and it said the International Monetary Fund projects Iran’s gross domestic product will shrink by more than 5%.
Al Jazeera reported that the Iranian rial hit a new all-time low on Monday at 2.03 million rials against the US dollar in Tehran’s open market, while it quoted Mohsen Rezaei warning that if the “economic war continues, not a single drop of oil will be exported” through the Strait of Hormuz or the Persian Gulf.