Tanker struck off Oman; US rolls out 'Operation Economic Outcast' on Iran

Iran threatens to halt Persian Gulf oil exports if pressure continues

Bessent said Monday that the United States is launching “Operation Economic Outcast” to isolate Iran, warning that countries and companies that continue doing business with Tehran could face sweeping U.S. penalties, according to The Wall Street Journal. The announcement follows Bessent’s Financial Times opinion piece over the weekend in which he wrote that Washington would sever every economic tie with Iran in what he called “the single greatest financial offensive ever” and described the U.S.-Israel war with Iran as “entering its endgame.” Iran dismissed the comments, with Tehran saying it would shut down all oil exports from the region “if the war continues.”

The U.K. Maritime Trade Operations, which is affiliated with the Royal Navy, said early Tuesday that an oil tanker was struck by an unknown projectile off the coast of Oman, damaging its engine room and leaving the vessel unable to operate. The crew was reported safe. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack or was publicly blamed.

Iran has targeted more than a dozen commercial vessels near the Strait of Hormuz or the Red Sea so far this month and has threatened others as part of its effort to control traffic through the waterway, the Journal reported. Pressure is also building across other key oil-export routes. A Saudi tanker was struck Monday in what the Iran-backed Houthi militia in Yemen said was an attack they carried out with a ballistic missile; UKMTO said the strike caused a fire on the tanker’s main deck. The Houthis declared a blockade on Saudi ships last month and began launching attacks, as Iran has sought to widen the scope of disruptions to the Red Sea route Saudi Arabia has been using to bypass the blockage in Hormuz.

Iranian Economy Minister Ali Madanizadeh characterized the U.S. campaign as an “economic terrorist attack” against Iran. “Our enemies want to launch an economic terrorist attack against us,” Madanizadeh said, according to state news agency IRNA. “This time, they should not think that our approach will be defensive and that we will only defend ourselves. They should also expect an attack from us.”

Iran’s top security official, Mohsen Rezaei, went further in a social-media post Sunday, writing that Iran will regard any country’s support for Washington’s economic campaign as an act of war. “If the economic war continues, not a single drop of oil will be exported, neither through the Strait of Hormuz nor from anywhere in the Persian Gulf,” Rezaei wrote. Iran’s recently created Persian Gulf Strait Authority identified 46 vessels it said violated its rules for crossing the strait and threatened them with fines, detention, or seizure of their cargoes; the authority also warned that vessels doing business with those ships could face penalties.

China, which the Journal identified as the biggest test of the new U.S. campaign because it usually buys most of Iran’s oil exports and whose banks and other entities help move revenues back to Iran, responded on Tuesday. When asked whether the U.S. would sanction Chinese banks that do business with Iran, Bessent said that no one is out of reach. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said economic warfare will only heighten tensions and could disrupt the global economy, and that China “will take all necessary measures to firmly safeguard its rights and interests.”

Diplomatic efforts to end the six-month conflict have produced no breakthrough. Pakistan’s army chief, Asim Munir, met Iranian leaders in Tehran on Monday to discuss ending the war and reopening the strait. Pakistan reported significant progress, but mediators said the talks produced no substantive breakthrough and failed to persuade Tehran to restart negotiations with Washington, the Journal reported.

Residents of Tehran reported long lines to buy gasoline on Tuesday as people rushed to get ahead of limited supplies, a declining currency, and the threat of further sanctions. The Trump administration has hinted again over the past week at the on-again, off-again goal of regime change. President Trump said early Tuesday on social media that the Iranian government is creating a humanitarian crisis that must be stopped. Bessent said Thursday in an interview with CNBC that “We are going to collapse this regime.” While flows through the strait have fallen sharply during the conflict, some crude and oil products are still getting out with help from the U.S. Navy; Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have also kept exports moving through pipelines that bypass the waterway.

The latest developments come one day after Bessent warned of an “economic D-Day” against Iran and follow a tanker strike near the strait on Aug. 18 that left at least one crew member harmed.