US to sanction another bank in Iran squeeze: Bessent
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- Treasury Secretary Bessent told AP the US will sanction another bank this week to escalate economic pressure on Iran, saying: 'This is going to be financial violence if we have to.'
- US forces struck Iranian rocket launchers on the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday — the first military action in a month — breaking a lull in fighting, while Iran vowed retaliation for what it called a deadly attack.
- Treasury's first formal action came Friday with a proposed rule to sever the UAE branches of Banque Misr, Egypt's second-largest bank, from the US financial system, falling short of full sanctions.
- On China, Iran's largest oil buyer, Bessent said 'all options are on the table' for sanctions, rejecting as 'a completely false narrative' the idea the administration is reluctant to confront Beijing.
- Treasury barred reporters from The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Bloomberg News from covering the G20 meetings in Asheville, NC; The Times called it 'a blatant attempt to evade public scrutiny.'
- Bessent faces scrutiny for an unusual bond buyback intervention that occurred the same day US debt topped $40 trillion, with former boss Stan Druckenmiller writing in the WSJ that Treasury was 'on the wrong side of that trade.'
Why it matters: The administration's pivot from military strikes to an 'economic D-Day' against Iran now puts Iran's trading partners — particularly China, its largest oil buyer — directly in the crosshairs of US financial penalties. Treasury's opening salvo against an Egyptian bank's UAE branches, rather than Beijing or New Delhi, signals a cautious escalation that preserves the bigger China confrontation for the G20 table.
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