U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced on Monday the start of the “Economic Pair” operation to cut Iran’s “all economic options” with the aim of raising sanctions pressure on the Islamic Republic to six months since the start of the war.
“The Treasury Department has identified all the nodes, facilitators and networks that Iran has used to smuggle oil and circumvent sanctions,” Bessent said in a press conference, reiterating that “nobody is exempt” from being the target of indirect sanctions for negotiating with the Iranian regime.
The senior official clarified that these “sectoral sanctions” will target “five of the vital routes that Iran exploits in other countries: digital assets, technology, gold, aviation and maritime transport.”
“These measures widen the risk of secondary sanctions for anyone who is foolish enough to continue doing business with this regime, and will accelerate the speed with which we will act against them,” he said.
The ex-investor said officials from the Treasury, the State Department and the Armed Forces “are now meeting with their international counterparts to convey that the U.S. He said he “expects concrete actions,” although he did not detail which nations were warned or specified a timetable for implementing these sanctions.
“Each country has a defined deadline to end the activities we have identified. If they do not act, we will do it unilaterally,” Bessent said, who had already announced that this Monday would be the “Economic Day D” in the war against Iran.
The U.S. Treasury Secretary also new sanctions against “more than sixty entities, individuals and ships around the world that allow the Iranian regime to acquire illegal nuclear and missile technology, conduct cyber operations and generate oil revenue.”
“Let there be no ambiguity about the U.S. position: any kind of economic relationship with this murderous regime will expose those responsible to the full weight of U.S. power,” he said.
Washington’s new economic operation to drown Iran’s oil-dependent economy takes place almost six months before the U.S. war. Israel against the Islamic Republic and in the midst of stalled peace talks, with no signs of a definitive peace agreement.
The U.S. Navy alsoins a naval blockade of Iranian coasts and ports to prevent the entry and exit of ships, which has aggravated the economic situation in the Persian nation, which at the beginning of the conflict interrupted traffic through the strategic Strait of Hormuz, affecting the world’s crude supply.
Iran has responded that it will not allow Washington to dictate the terms of the end of the war and has reiterated its warnings to other countries not to participate in the new U.S. economic campaign against it.
He also said he would consider as “enemy” countries that join the “economic war” of the United States.
