Bessent expects new US secondary sanctions on Iran every week

Scott Bessent says the United States is preparing to make secondary sanctions against Iran a weekly instrument, beginning with banks and potentially escalating to exclusion from the dollar-based financial system.

The Treasury secretary told Reuters that the next measures would target institutions accused of handling Iranian money or aiding the Iranian government. His comments followed Friday’s penalties against United Arab Emirates branches of Egypt’s Banque Misr over alleged financial links to Iran.

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You’re going to see a lot more of these every week.

“You’re going to see a lot more of these every week,” Bessent said before a meeting of G20 finance leaders. “We’re starting with the banks, and we’re telling the banks it’s not okay to have Iranian money and to aid the regime.”

Bessent said he plans to press G20 finance ministers and central bank governors to cut economic ties with Iran. Institutions that fail to comply, he said, could face secondary sanctions.

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We’re starting with the banks, and we’re telling the banks it’s not okay to have Iranian money and to aid the regime.