Bessent vows to sever all economic ties with Iran as war 'enters its endgame'

Iran says it would shut all regional oil exports ‘if the war continues’

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in an opinion piece for the Financial Times that the United States would sever every economic tie with Iran and isolate any nation that partners with the country financially, in what he called “an economic D-Day” and “the single greatest financial offensive ever.” Bessent wrote that the US-Israel war with Iran was “entering its endgame.”

He did not specify what the economic pressure would involve. He was expected to provide details at a press conference in the United States at 13:00 local time (18:00 BST) on Monday.

Iran dismissed the comments. According to Reuters, Tehran said it would shut down all oil exports from the region “if the war continues” and issued a new warning to shipping not to pass through the Strait of Hormuz without its permission.

The Strait of Hormuz, a waterway south of Iran through which one-fifth of the world’s oil and gas usually passes, has been effectively blocked since the conflict began at the end of February.

“The world should understand that our objective is to sever every economic lifeline that sustains the tyrannical regime until Tehran stands alone,” Bessent wrote in the piece.

The warning follows several reversals and extended deadlines from President Donald Trump’s administration on earlier threats. In April, Trump said “a whole civilisation will die tonight” unless Iran agreed a deal to end the war and unblock the strait. The United States later climbed down from that position after mediator Pakistan intervened and called for more diplomacy.

Iran already faces extensive US sanctions. The 2015 nuclear agreement negotiated under former president Barack Obama with several US allies lifted many sanctions in return for Iran agreeing to limit its nuclear programme. Trump withdrew from the deal in 2018, calling it “defective at its core,” and reimposed all US sanctions. During Joe Biden’s term as president, he made some attempts to reinstate the Obama-era deal, but this did not happen.

In April of this year, the Trump administration launched a wave of sanctions on foreign banks and firms doing business with Tehran after it became clear that US military operations had not caused Iran’s government to surrender.