On September 1, 2026, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent speaks during a “fireside chat” during a meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors from G20 countries in Asheville, North Carolina, United States.
Sam Wolfe | Reuters
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent praised the European Union’s formal participation in Operation Economic Outcast, a US-led sanctions campaign aimed at cutting Iran off from the global financial system as the US escalates its war to include economic pressure.
“We appreciate their strong and early stance,” Bessent said in a social media post Thursday evening in the United States. He added: “The world is sending a clear message to the Iranian regime that we will not stop until all remaining financial lifelines are severed.”
The comments came after Brussels announced in a statement on August 31 that it supported efforts by the Iranian government to end its “destabilizing activities” and restart peace talks, including through an economic purge operation to put additional economic pressure on the Islamic regime.
The bloc’s support came earlier this week when finance ministers and central bank governors from the Group of 20 countries gathered in Asheville, North Carolina.
“The United States stands firmly with our allies to prevent the brutal Iranian regime from exploiting the global financial system to fund its nuclear program, weapons programs, and terrorist proxies,” Bessent said in a post Thursday.
In late August, the Trump administration launched an “Operation Economic Expulsion” campaign targeting Iran’s access to digital assets, advanced technology procurement, gold reserves, civil aviation, and shipping.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Esmail Baghaei criticized the EU’s move to support what he called Washington’s “economic terrorism.” In a Sept. 1 post, Bagai slammed the EU for “surrendering its sovereignty, laws, regulations, values, and ethics to US coercion.”
Bessent characterized the campaign as an “economic onslaught” on Iran’s global financial relationships and warned that countries supporting Iran should “look forward to joining in isolating the waning regime.” China is Iran’s largest trading partner, purchasing approximately 90% of Iran’s sanctioned crude oil exports before the war.
Separately, the EU maintains its own sanctions regime targeting Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs and military aid to Russia.
Bessent had signaled ahead of the summit that he would pressure G20 countries to sever financial ties with Iran or face secondary sanctions. He also signaled weekly new secondary sanctions, initially focused on banks, and threatened to completely cut off institutions facilitating Iran-related transactions from the dollar-based financial system.
standoff
Military hostilities in the region have escalated in recent days, renewing fears of a return to broader war.
The U.S. military carried out a new wave of strikes against Iranian military targets earlier this week in retaliation for attacks on ships and U.S. troops in the region. Iran retaliated by firing missiles at U.S. military bases across the Middle East.
Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a pre-war gateway for about a fifth of the world’s oil flows, remains curtailed, and Iran has launched regular attacks on ships using the southern passage near the Omani coast.
The United States maintains a naval blockade of the strait, blocking ships from entering and exiting Iranian ports in an effort to disrupt Iranian oil shipments. U.S. Central Command said Friday that it had rerouted 87 commercial ships, grounded three ships and boarded two others to ensure full compliance.
