US Treasury secretary announces economic sanctions against Iran, Tehran warns to halt all oil exports through Strait of Hormuz, Persian Gulf

The US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday (IST) announced economic sanctions against Iran, which he described as “Economic D-Day”, aimed at further limiting Iran’s financial lifeline.

“We are now entering the endgame. At dawn begins an economic D-Day — the single greatest financial offensive ever marshaled against an adversary,” he wrote in a post on X.

“President Trump has dismantled Iran’s military capabilities, destroyed nearly 100 percent of its military factories, and buried its nuclear program,” he added.

What is the US accusing Iran of?

Bessent accused Iran of using security guarantees as a form of “extortion”, arguing that Tehran had operated on the assumption that Iranian retaliation was inevitable, while US enforcement could be negotiated.

“The Islamic Republic has subsisted by dressing extortion as security guarantees. It has drawn strength from a calculus that regards Iranian retaliation as certain and American enforcement as negotiable. Under President Trump, that era is over. And those who fear the danger of defying Tehran ought not to discount the cost of testing Washington,” he said.

Bessent said the objective behind the move is to sever Iran’s every economic lifeline. “The President has created the conditions to leverage every agency, every authority and action many assumed we would never summon. Our objective is to sever every economic lifeline that sustains the tyrannical regime until Tehran stands alone,” he added.

How has Iran responded to the threat?

Meanwhile, Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaei on Monday warned that Tehran could halt all oil exports through the Strait of Hormuz and elsewhere in the Persian Gulf if the US’ "economic war" against Iran continues.

In a post on X, Rezaei also warned that Iran would consider any country supporting or participating in Washington’s economic campaign against Tehran to be an "act of war."

"If the economic war continues, not a single drop of oil will be exported, neither through the Strait of Hormuz nor from anywhere in the Persian Gulf. Iran will regard any country's participation in or support for America's economic war against the Iranian people as an act of war," Rezaei said.

Earlier on Sunday, Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf mocked the US over President Donald Trump’s fresh threat of economic sanctions, using satirical remarks to argue that heavy-handed economic restrictions could ultimately backfire.