U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Aug. 13 threatened to subject Iran to economic isolation “like the world has never seen before,” adding that new measures are expected next week.
“It will be a combination of economic isolation, like the world has never seen before,” Bessent told conservative television network Newsmax, adding that “the continued blockade in the Strait of Hormuz... will keep anything from going in or out of the Iranian ports.”
“Watch this space for more announcements coming next week,” he said.
Bessent described a two-pronged approach featuring financial pressure and a physical blockade of the ports.
Vice President JD Vance said earlier that the top U.S. priority in the Iran war was bringing oil and gasoline prices down for Americans, with preventing Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon now ranking second.
The tougher stance contrasts with remarks by Bessent on Aug. 4, when he told CNBC that an agreement with Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz could be reached within days.
Those comments sent Wall Street higher and oil prices lower.
Preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, consistently touted by President Donald Trump as his main reason for the war, now takes a back seat to getting oil flowing again freely through the strait, Vance said on Fox News.
Vance’s comments underscored the stark reality that the war now centers on control of the Strait of Hormuz, the critical fuel supply conduit that was open before Trump started the war along with Israel in late February.
Iran has all but shut it down in retaliation and thus found a crucial bargaining chip against Trump as he struggles to find a way out of the war and shies away from resuming large-scale attacks.
The 80-year-old president’s approval rating is plummeting, the war is unpopular among Americans and midterm elections are approaching in November.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters that the U.S. military has the capability to maintain a naval presence in the region to enforce its blockade of Iran, which has inflicted severe economic damage on the country.
“Indefinitely the United States Navy can maintain a blockade like that because we’ll rotate ships in and out, as we have, and we’ll continue to,” Hegseth told reporters during a trip to Panama.
Some sailors have reportedly tried throwing themselves into the sea, basic supplies can run short and sanitation is going awry: Life on America’s giant Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier is increasingly difficult as the Iran war drags on.
The ship, now in its ninth month of deployment, is expected to be replaced in the Middle East by another carrier, the George Washington, in a move sure to be welcomed by the Lincoln’s crew and their loved ones.
