
This photo taken on Feb. 20, 2026 shows a city view of Tehran, Iran. (Photo: Xinhua)
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Thursday that the United States is going to apply measures that have "never been seen" on Iran.
"Watch this space for more announcements coming next week because we are going to apply measures like have never been seen in the history of economic isolation on a country," Bessent said in an interview on Newsmax's "Rob Schmitt Tonight" program.
Bessent said Washington is stepping up a financial campaign against Tehran that began after President Donald Trump reinstated his "maximum pressure" policy last year and intensified it following the launch of military operations against Iran in February.
He added that the Treasury Department has targeted Iranian "bank accounts, crypto wallets, assets around the world, cutting off payments into both the leadership in the regime and the government itself."
Bessent referenced "Operation Epic Fury," the joint U.S.-Israeli military campaign against Iran that began on Feb. 28, and said the Treasury Department was now shifting toward what he called an "Economic Fury."
The Treasury Department would pursue a combination of economic isolation and a continued blockade of the Hormuz Strait, Bessent said.