US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned countries and businesses to stay away from Iran, saying Washington would target those supporting Tehran.
The US Treasury's Operation Economic Outcast seeks to cut Iran's financial lifelines and increase sanctions exposure for entities continuing to do business with the Iranian regime.
Brent crude has risen nearly 6% since Iran attacked US bases in Jordan, adding to concerns over the economic impact of the escalating conflict.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned countries and businesses against supporting Iran and said Washington was considering sanctions targeting airlines, maritime activity and digital assets.
Bessent told Fox News, “My message to everyone is to stay away.”
What Did The US Warn Iran’s Business Partners?
Bessent said that the US will sever every tie that Iran has to the outside world.
“My message to everyone is stay away. We all want this conflict to end and the fastest way for the conflict to end is for no one to provide any support to this regime. We are going to sever every tie that they have from the outside world.”
He added, “For instance, last Friday we sanctioned the Dubai branches of an Egyptian bank and they had provided more than 1.8 billion dollars to the regime since 2025. And we are going to systematically go through and take every bad actor like that out. We've created new authorities for Treasury to be able to sanction under aero airlines, maritime, digital assets. So this is all hands on deck. Teams from Treasury, State Department, and Department of War have gone out to the world and we are having very fulsome talks with anyone supporting the regime.”
He said earlier, "We know who is helping the Iranians, they know who they are — and it is going to stop. This is the final move for this regime after 47 years."
Bessent said that the US wanted to “asphyxiate this regime."
"We have zero tolerance. We are going to economically asphyxiate this regime," he said. "My job is to make sure that they want to have a deal, and they will want to have one."
What Is Operation Economic Outcast?
On August 24, the US Department of the Treasury began Operation Economic Outcast: an unprecedented, whole-of-government, economic campaign against Iran and its enablers.
Operation Economic Outcast aims to sever the economic lifelines that sustain the Iranian regime and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). “These actions mark the beginning of a sustained and systematic campaign to close every financial resource that supports the leading state sponsor of terror,” the statement said.
The statement said that Treasury mapped the networks, facilitators, and financial channels that Iran uses to smuggle oil, evade sanctions, and fund terror. Treasury said it will be uncompromising in targeting any source of the regime’s revenue.
Any entity that facilitates money laundering or sanctions evasion on behalf of Iran risks being cut off from the US financial system. The announcement also expands secondary sanctions exposure for those who continue doing business with the Iranian regime and will accelerate the pace of US enforcement.
Brent crude oil has jumped nearly 6% since Iran attacked U.S. bases in Jordan on Sunday. The commodity is now trading at around $95 per barrel, as per Fox News.
