Middle East EyeIReconomicsAug 25, 2026, 4:25 AMImpact 56.28

Trump unleashes swathe sanctions on Iran 'enablers'

Trump unleashes swathe sanctions on Iran 'enablers' US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday announced a new wave of sanctions against Iran and its "enablers", towards what he described as an "asphyxiation of this regime" amid the standoff in the Strait of Hormuz. "Iran now faces a very clear choice, with only two paths before them: complete global isolation and a subsistence economy, or a path back to normalcy with an opportunity to rejoin the global economy," Bessent told reporters in Washington, DC. It remains unclear how "a path to normalcy" may work, given the Trump administration has only ever tightened sanctions on Iran since its first iteration in the White House in 2017. "Today, we are launching Operation Economic Outcast to foreclose every other option available to the Iranian regime," Bessent declared. "America is no longer managing the Iranian threat. We are ending it." Using a "zero leakage approach", he said the Treasury had "mapped every node, every facilitator, and every network that Iran has used to smuggle oil and evade sanctions", and that President Donald Trump had already made phone calls to counterparts around the world "with specific requests to cease th