The Trump administration is preparing what US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent described as an “economic D-Day” against Iran, as Washington moves towards what it says will be its strongest financial campaign yet against Tehran.
In a post on X on Sunday (local time), Bessent said the US was entering the “endgame” of its campaign against Iran and planned to use its economic powers to cut off the financial channels supporting the Iranian government.
“President Trump has dismantled Iran's military capabilities, destroyed nearly 100 percent of its military factories, and buried its nuclear program.”
“We are now entering the endgame. At dawn begins an economic D-Day -- the single greatest financial offensive ever marshaled against an adversary,” he said.
Bessent outlines US economic offensive
Bessent accused Iran of treating security guarantees as a means of “extortion”, arguing that Tehran had operated on the assumption that Iranian retaliation would be certain while US enforcement could be negotiated.
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“The Islamic Republic has subsisted by dressing extortion as security guarantees. It has drawn strength from a calculus that regards Iranian retaliation as certain and American enforcement as negotiable,” Bessent said.
“Under President Trump, that era is over. And those who fear the danger of defying Tehran ought not to discount the cost of testing Washington,” he added.
He said Trump had put in place the conditions required for the US government to use the full scope of its powers against Iran.
“The President has created the conditions to leverage every agency, every authority and action many assumed we would never summon,” he said.
“Our objective is to sever every economic lifeline that sustains the tyrannical regime until Tehran stands alone,” Bessent added.
Iran threatens to halt oil exports
Iran responded by warning that it could stop all oil exports through the Strait of Hormuz and other parts of the Persian Gulf if the US continues what Tehran calls an “economic war”.
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Iran's Supreme National Security Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaei issued the warning on Monday in a post on X. He also said Tehran would regard any country supporting or participating in the US economic campaign against Iran as committing an “act of war”.
“If the economic war continues, not a single drop of oil will be exported. neither through the Strait of Hormuz nor from anywhere in the Persian Gulf. Iran will regard any country's participation in or support for America's economic war against the Iranian people as an act of war,” Rezaei said.
The statement comes as tensions between Washington and Tehran rise over plans by the US to impose tougher economic measures on Iran.
Iran mocks US sanctions plans
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf on Sunday also criticised the latest US sanctions threat from Trump, using satire to argue that aggressive economic restrictions could ultimately produce the opposite effect.
In a post on X, Ghalibaf commented on efforts to address financial pressures through temporary government measures.
“Importing frozen meat to fix meat prices. Okay, that might work. What's the plan for bonds, import frozen yields? Frozen homebuyers for housing? Frozen paychecks for wages? A frozen foreign policy delivers a frozen economy. The only thing still moving? The Iran boomerang,” he said.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei also criticised the US sanctions threat, according to Al Jazeera, saying that war and sanctions were “not unfamiliar” to Iran.
He noted that the Islamic Republic had been under sanctions for 20 years.
Trump calls for ‘Economic D-Day’
Iran's response followed Trump's announcement on Wednesday of what he called an “Economic D-Day” campaign against the country.
Trump described the planned measures as the “most crushing economic operation ever taken against any country” and urged US allies to join Washington in isolating Iran.
He also said the US had “very draconian sanctions” available against Tehran and indicated that further measures could be announced.
“We have things that we could sanction. We have very draconian sanctions, and we'll see what happens,” Trump said while addressing technology leaders.
Trump said Washington would decide its next steps based on developments, adding that the situation could either cause oil prices to fall significantly or result in the continuation of existing measures.
(With inputs from agencies)