WASHINGTON - The Treasury Department opened a sanctions campaign on Monday intended to cut Iran off from the global economy, broadening the threat of penalties against foreign companies and governments that continue to do business with Tehran.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced the effort, called Operation Economic Outcast, at a news conference in Washington. He compared it to an economic D-Day and said the goal is to sever the financial links that sustain the Iranian government until Tehran stands alone.
Treasury expanded the categories subject to secondary sanctions to cover digital assets, technology, gold, aviation and shipping, sectors Bessent said Iran uses to raise revenue and evade existing restrictions. The department's Office of Foreign Assets Control designated nearly 60 individuals, companies and vessels accused of involvement in the procurement of nuclear and missile technology, cyber operations and oil smuggling.
The department also suspended licenses it had previously issued that permitted certain remittance payments to Iran and Iranian participation in U.S. cultural and academic institutions.
Bessent said many of the secondary penalties will not take effect immediately and that governments and firms will be given a period to change course before they are targeted. He said he did not want to destabilize the global financial system, but that the window would close quickly. He added that he expects an announcement involving a major financial institution by the end of the week.
Bessent said the United Arab Emirates' decision last week to halt dealings with Iran was likely a result of U.S. pressure, and that he expects other governments to follow. President Donald Trump has been calling world leaders with specific requests to end trade with Iran, he said.
Iranian officials dismissed the campaign. Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf wrote on X that the United States is not positioned economically to restrict its ties with Iran's trading partners. Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, warned that continued pressure would mean not a single drop of oil moving through the Strait of Hormuz.
China, one of the largest buyers of Iranian crude, called on Washington to act rationally.
The United States already maintains extensive secondary sanctions on Iran's oil trade, though successive administrations, including the current one, have enforced them only in part.