Bessent: Treasury to Sanction Large Bank Monday — SkimNews
Get the Geopolitics newsletter
Daily geopolitics — wars, elections, sanctions, the diplomatic moves that move markets. Free.
- Scott Bessent said on 'Real America's Voice' that Treasury will sanction a large bank on Monday, naming neither the institution nor its country, in a bid to pressure Tehran to end the conflict that began in February.
- The sanctions were originally scheduled for Friday but were pushed to Monday to avoid conflicting with ceremonies marking the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks.
- Bessent framed the campaign in existential terms, saying Treasury aims to make doing business with Iran 'so unprofitable' that 'if you want to risk an extinction-level event for your company or for your person, your personal finances, then have at it. But we are coming for you.'
- Treasury's pressure campaign on Iran since February has already targeted oil exports, shipping networks, weapons procurement channels, financial intermediaries, digital asset exchanges and aviation links.
- 'Operation Economic Outcast', rolled out last month, sanctioned nearly 60 entities, individuals and vessels and widened secondary sanctions to cover shipping, aviation, technology, gold and digital assets.
- President Trump said Wednesday he predicts the war with Iran will not end until after November's midterm elections.
Why it matters: By singling out a large, still-unnamed bank, Treasury raises the cost of any continued financial exposure to Iran for major global institutions; the secondary-sanctions perimeter under Operation Economic Outcast now sweeps in shipping, aviation, technology, gold and digital assets, broadening the compliance footprint well beyond Tehran's borders. Bessent's 'extinction-level event' language signals Washington is willing to brand even large counterparties as existential risks to enforce isolation.
Ask SkimNews
