{"id":221840,"date":"2026-08-24T21:49:45","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T21:49:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/bessent-threatens-new-iran-secondary-sanctions-says-trump-asking-world-leaders-to-cooperate-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2026-08-24T21:49:45","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T21:49:45","slug":"bessent-threatens-new-iran-secondary-sanctions-says-trump-asking-world-leaders-to-cooperate-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/bessent-threatens-new-iran-secondary-sanctions-says-trump-asking-world-leaders-to-cooperate-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Bessent threatens new Iran secondary sanctions, says Trump asking world leaders to cooperate – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced plans for a wave of new sanctions Monday aimed at further isolating Iran, after threatening the Islamic Republic with \u201can economic D-Day.\u201d
The sanctions will target international entities engaged in facilitating Iranian trade related to shipping, oil, crypto, gold and aviation.
Bessent said President Donald Trump was making phone calls to world leaders with \u201cspecific requests\u201d to cease trading with the Iranian regime.
Bessent said the U.S. was launching an \u201ceconomic onslaught\u201d against Iran\u2019s financial connections \u201caround the globe\u201d in order to \u201csever every economic pipeline\u201d used by Iran \u201cuntil Tehran stands alone.\u201d
Treasury announced Monday it is sanctioning nearly 60 corporations, individuals and vessels in multiple jurisdictions that it says enable the Iranian regime\u2019s \u201crecklessness.\u201d That list includes multiple Chinese nationals.
China has said it is illegal for its citizens to comply with unilateral U.S. sanctions.
Bessent said the U.S. was engaging in \u201cquiet diplomacy\u201d with Iranian trade partners to warn them of the consequences for continuing to trade with Tehran. Any entity that facilitates money laundering on behalf of Iran will be removed from the U.S. dollar system, he said.
\u201cNo one is above the reach of U.S. sanctions,\u201d Bessent said, adding there was now a \u201ccure period\u201d for nations to end the targeted relations with Iran.
Yet Bessent did not lay out any immediate concrete actions against other countries. Markets showed little reaction to Bessent\u2019s remarks.
Iranian officials downplayed the economic threat.
\u201cYou will fail this time too,\u201d Iranian Economy Minister Ali Madanizadeh said in response to Bessent\u2019s comments, according to the semiofficial Fars news agency<\/a>, and added, \u201cThe government is fully prepared for this economic war.\u201d
Madanizadeh said that it would not be easy to cut the country off from global economic channels and that Iran would retaliate, according to the semiofficial ISNA news agency<\/a>.
\u201cIf they take any action, they should expect an attack from us,\u201d he said, according to ISNA.
Separately, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said that the U.S. must stop trying to bully Iran.
\u201cAmerica must correct its tone and approach in dealing with Iran, because relying on force and bullying will only complicate the process,\u201d he said, according to the semiofficial Tasnim news agency<\/a>. \u201cOur nation, relying on its solidarity, will overcome any pressure and threats.\u201d
Pezeshkian made the comments during a meeting on Monday with Field Marshal Asim Munir, the army chief of Pakistan, a key mediator between the U.S. and Iran, according to Tasnim.
After six months of kinetic combat and a U.S. naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, the Trump administration has few remaining levers it can use to convince Iran\u2019s major trading partners to materially reduce their economic ties, said Alan Eyre, a distinguished diplomatic fellow at the Middle East Institute.
The White House \u201cseems to think that this announcement in and of itself will cause countries to sever relations with Iran absent any follow-up, which I think is highly unlikely,\u201d Eyre told NBC News.
The U.S. has for decades imposed direct sanctions on Iran and businesses involved in prohibited activities like weapons procurement. But Iran has, in many cases, successfully evaded the sanctions by setting up new front companies.
Bessent promised Sunday to launch \u201cthe single greatest financial offensive ever\u201d in an op-ed in the Financial Times.
\u201cThe world should understand that our objective is to sever every economic lifeline that sustains the tyrannical regime until Tehran stands alone,\u201d he wrote, adding that any country partnering with Iran would also be financially isolated.
Monday\u2019s actions are designed to target \u201csecondary\u201d countries whose trade and business relations still benefit Iran. Ahead of the announcement, the United Arab Emirates, a close U.S. ally whose leadership has forged close ties with the Trump administration, announced it was ending all trade relations with Iran.
Experts say the success of Bessent\u2019s announcement will hinge on whether Iran\u2019s most powerful trading partners \u2014 China, India and Russia \u2014 decide the U.S. threats are credible.
\u201cIf you\u2019re a country like Russia or China, you see Iran as ally, and you\u2019re not just going to suddenly stop trading with them \u2014 that damages Moscow\u2019s credibility in eyes of their friends around the world,\u201d said Andrew Gawthrope, a university lecturer at the University of Leiden specializing in U.S. foreign policy.
\u201cThere\u2019s just not much the U.S. can do to these countries to make them go along with this,\u201d he said.
It\u2019s been nearly six months since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on the premise of preventing it from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
The U.S. has racked up its own costs. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said last month that the war has cost the U.S. $37.5 billion, though estimates put the all-in economic impact at as much as $150 billion. Moody\u2019s Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi told NBC News last month<\/a> he estimated the war has cost the average U.S. household more than $1,200 in higher energy and grocery costs alone.
Despite the new economic measures announced on Monday, Hegseth did not rule out further military action.
\u201cIf we need to use kinetic strikes, we\u2019ll use them. If Iran is foolish enough to to overplay their hand or mess with the the American military, we\u2019ll do what we need to do,\u201d Hegseth told reporters on Monday. \u201cBut economic pressure, we know, hurts them the most right now. \u201cAnd but by no means are we foreclosing using kinetic strikes anywhere in the Strait of Hormuz or around Iran.\u201d
The war has also become a political liability for Trump ahead of November\u2019s midterm elections, with his approval rating dropping to its lowest level of either of his presidential terms. Economists say that in addition to higher gas prices, the war has also helped contribute to the current turmoil in the bond market<\/a> that\u2019s led to extraordinary intervention by the Treasury Department.
While Bessent was speaking Monday, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of Iran\u2019s Parliament who until recently had been leading Iran\u2019s negotiation team to end the war, took to X<\/a>.
\u201cAmericans know that no one buys their bombast; the United States is not in an economic position to further restrict its relations with other countries,\u201d he wrote. \u201cIran\u2019s trading partners, both in the media and through messages sent to us, have made it clear that they don\u2019t take these statements into account anywhere.\u201d
Ahead of the speech, the country\u2019s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi also posted on X to question whether Bessent\u2019s plan was \u201can admission of America\u2019s defeat?\u201d
Referencing previous American claims that Iran\u2019s military capabilities had been destroyed, he said, \u201cDealing with this very Iran has required the \u2018largest financial offensive in history\u2019 and the mobilization of \u2018all of America\u2019s institutions and authorities.\u2019\u201d
The head of Iran\u2019s Central Bank, Abdolnaser Hemmati, told the semiofficial Tasnim news agency that the U.S. had \u201cdone everything it could in terms of sanctions up to now and the recent claims do not introduce any new restrictions or additional pressure.\u201d
Iran had been anticipating \u201cdifficult conditions\u201d since the war began in February \u201cand began stockpiling foreign currency,\u201d he said in comments that were published ahead of Bessent\u2019s announcement.
This had enabled the country \u201cto give a firm commitment that we would provide the foreign currency needed for essential goods and medicine,\u201d he said.
In Tehran\u2019s sprawling Grand Bazaar, long a center of conservatism in Iranian politics and still an economic force within the country, there was a heavy police presence and some expressed frustration at the value of Iran\u2019s currency, the rial.
With gas prices on the rise and long lines reported at some gas stations, authorities in the country appeared concerned that protests could break out.
Violent demonstrations left thousands dead in January and thousands were arrested by the country\u2019s hard-line regime after people took to the streets to call for an end to the country\u2019s theocratic rule.
While President Donald Trump hoped for people to rise up against the country\u2019s hard-line rulers early on in the war, Iran\u2019s authoritarian government appears to have tightened its grip on power since the start of the war.
Iran\u2019s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed at the start of the war along with several other senior officials. Now, his son and successor Mojtaba Khamenei appears to be equally hard-line, as he has elevated a group of veteran hard-liners from the country\u2019s security and military establishment.
Rob Wile is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist covering breaking business stories for NBCNews.com.
Henry Austin\u00a0is a senior editor for NBC News Digital based in London.
© 2026 NBCUniversal Media, LLC<\/p>\n

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news AlertsThere are no new alerts at this timeTreasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced plans for a wave of new sanctions Monday aimed at further isolating Iran, after threatening the Islamic Republic with \u201can economic D-Day.\u201d The sanctions will target international entities engaged in facilitating Iranian trade related to shipping, oil, crypto, gold and aviation. Bessent […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":221841,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-221840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=221840"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221840\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/221841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=221840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=221840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=221840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}