- US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned allies to support economic isolation of Iran or be against them
- He called the sanctions effort the greatest coordinated economic isolation in history
- Bessent said sanctions aim to collapse the Iranian government and reduce military conflict risks
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Thursday warned allies that they would either be with them or against them when it comes to economically isolating Iran. He said the new push to ramp up sanctions against Iran would be the "greatest coordinated economic isolation" in the history of the world.
Speaking to CNBC, in a message to allies, he said, "This is going to be the greatest coordinated economic isolation in the history of the world. And we are going to them and saying you are either with us or against us".
Bessent said that the economic sanctions would "collapse" the government.
Asked whether the US would pressure China, he claimed that they would have a "private" conversation with China "to get with the programme".
"We are confident that everyone wants the Strait (of Hormuz) reopened, and for energy prices to come back down," he said. "Keep in mind that the Chinese get 50% (of their) energy from inside from the Gulf. So it would do them a big service to get with the programme," he said.
Chinese President Xi Jinping is due to visit the White House on September 24, when the topic of Iran is sure to come up, as it did when Trump travelled to Beijing for a summit in May.
Bessent said that economic sanctions would make it less likely for the US to have to return to heavy military operations against Iran.
"If we are doing the maximum economic pressure, then that means that likely there will not be a large-scale kinetic restart, but I will emphasise that is for now," he told CNBC.
He said that there would be a press conference on Monday where the administration would talk about what they plan to do about Iran.
"I think oil markets are misinterpreting what this economic pressure means," Bessent told CNBC.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi dismissed US President Donald Trump's newly announced "Economic D-Day" pressure campaign as an attempt to divert American public opinion away from the United States' own escalating domestic financial crises.
