Bessent Vows 'Financial Violence' in Iran Bank Crackdown
Bessent Vows 'Financial Violence' in Iran Bank Crackdown
The News
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says the Trump administration will impose sanctions on another bank this week as part of its campaign to choke off transactions with Iran.
Bessent said so Sunday in an interview with The Associated Press in Asheville, North Carolina, where he is meeting counterparts from the world's major and developing economies ahead of Group of 20 meetings.
"This is going to be financial violence if we have to," Bessent told the AP. "We are showing people that we know who you are, you know who you are, and this has got to stop."
He did not name the bank.
Timeline
Earlier this month Bessent announced a campaign pressing countries that still do business with the heavily sanctioned Islamic Republic to cut their financial ties or face U.S. retaliation.
Treasury took its first official action in that campaign — a proposed rulemaking that would, if finalized, cut the Emirati branches of Banque Misr, Egypt's second-largest bank, off from the U.S. financial system. It stopped short of sanctioning the bank outright.
Bessent tells the AP another bank will be sanctioned this week, and that he will meet individually with G-20 counterparts in Asheville to push them toward economic isolation of Iran.
Reactions
Analysts were unimpressed by the opening week. Bloomberg, cited by Political Wire, reported that Bessent began the week vowing an "economic onslaught" against Iran and its trading partners in a fresh bid to end the war — and that by week's end countries with ties to Tehran had largely shrugged off the threat, leaving analysts underwhelmed by the U.S. actions.
The softer treatment of the Egyptian bank was read as a sign the administration is reluctant to punish big trading partners that deal with Iran, including China and India, whose officials Bessent is meeting this week.
Bessent rejected that reading, calling it "a completely false narrative that the media picked up on." He said "all options are on the table" on sanctioning Beijing over its continued purchases, and insisted the U.S. and China agree on the need to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and keep Iran from building a nuclear weapon.
What's Next
The new bank sanctions are due this week, alongside Bessent's one-on-one meetings with G-20 finance officials in Asheville, including the Chinese delegation.
The Banque Misr measure is a proposed rule, not a done deal — it takes effect only if Treasury finalizes it.
More
The push is the financial arm of Washington's effort to end the war with Iran, which has already drawn U.S. military action tied to mines in the Strait of Hormuz. Bessent's pitch to the G-20 is that trading partners choose between access to the U.S. financial system and business with Tehran.
Colleges Condemn Students Mocking Kirk Assassination Anniversary
Charleston White Arrested Again on Florida Battery Charge
Sep 13, 2026
Border Patrol Rescues MS NOW Crew in Desert
Sep 13, 2026
Supreme Court Restores Missouri's Old House Map
Sep 13, 2026
Alaska Drops Felony Voter Charges Against Samoans
Sep 13, 2026
Trespasser Breaches Harris' Malibu Estate; No Arrest
Sep 12, 2026
Hegseth Pressed Downed Airmen Into 60 Minutes
Sep 12, 2026
Houthis Seize Mokha, Choking Saudi Oil Exports
Sep 12, 2026
Altman Rules Out OpenAI IPO This Year
Sep 12, 2026
Jury Acquits Lil Durk in Murder-for-Hire Case
Sep 12, 2026
Judge: Trump Broke Law Halving FEMA Staff
Sep 12, 2026
Maher Calls Democrats' Gaza Genocide Claim a Lie
Sep 12, 2026
Blizzard Revives StarCraft, Sends Diablo to Netflix
Sep 12, 2026
Trump's Queens Childhood Home Sells for $1.93M
Sep 12, 2026
Scientists Find New Virus in Tick Invading US
Sep 12, 2026
Britain Bans Settlement Imports; US States Threaten Payback
Sep 12, 2026
Prison Fire Kills 7 as Kurds Protest Killing
Sep 12, 2026
Kosovo Rallies for Ex-President Before Hague Verdict
Sep 12, 2026
Cruz Booed at GameDay Over College Sports Bill
Sep 12, 2026
Blast Hits Bulgarian Arms Plant Supplying Ukraine
Sep 12, 2026
Sep 13, 2026