The Trump administration is preparing to intensify its economic campaign against Iran, with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent promising measures "that have never been seen on Iran" as negotiations remain stalled and the prolonged disruption of the Strait of Hormuz continues to reverberate through global energy markets.
Bessent said Washington intends to combine financial pressure with its existing maritime campaign, signaling that the administration sees economic isolation as a central tool for weakening Tehran as the war drags on. President Donald Trump has also indicated that he favors maintaining the current pressure strategy while keeping further military action available.
Speaking to Newsmax, Bessent said the next phase "will be a combination of economic isolation like the world has never seen before, and the continued blockade in the Strait of Hormuz that will keep anything from going in or out of the Iranian ports."
Bessent didn't provide details on what additional sanctions, financial restrictions or enforcement mechanisms the Treasury Department could deploy. Asked what Washington intends to do next, he said only, "just watch this space."
The strategy aligns with Trump's increasingly stark description of Iran's economic position. Speaking to Real America's Voice this week, the president argued that existing pressure has already inflicted severe damage on Tehran.
"They've got 300% inflation. Their currency has almost no value. They're not paying their soldiers. Their soldiers are leaving," Trump said.
Trump has also suggested that economic leverage could take precedence over another immediate expansion of military operations. "Economically, they are a mess. They can't borrow money. We control their money, what they had, which is a lot. They had a lot, and we have total control of it. I'm their banker," he said.
The shift toward heavier economic pressure comes as diplomatic prospects have deteriorated. Trump said Monday that the U.S. would demand compensation from Iran for war-related damages after Tehran advanced its own compensation claims, adding another dispute to negotiations that have already struggled to produce a path toward ending the conflict.
A senior Iranian official told Reuters that intermediaries are still discussing a U.S. return to an interim agreement and a timetable for Washington to carry out its commitments, but said those discussions haven't moved forward.
"One of the issues that is being discussed via mediators is the U.S. returning to the interim agreement and defining a timeframe for implementing its commitments. There has been absolutely no progress on this issue," the official told Reuters.
The continuing disruption of the Strait of Hormuz is meanwhile complicating the administration's strategy by creating broader economic consequences. Traffic through the critical energy corridor remains severely disrupted, while the International Energy Agency has revised its global oil-demand outlook lower as the conflict weighs on the market.
The IEA said this week that it expects global oil demand to decline by 1.6 million barrels a day, a deterioration of 510,000 barrels a day from its July forecast. The revision highlights the increasingly significant economic effects of a conflict centered on a waterway crucial to international energy trade.
Those pressures are also influencing how the White House defines success. Vice President JD Vance said Friday that keeping U.S. fuel costs down has become the administration's "goal number one" in the conflict.
"Obviously goal number two is ensure that Iran never gets a nuclear weapon," Vance added.
