US President Donald Trump warned of economic consequences for any country that provided ‘any type of lifeline to Iran’ as the United States looks to resolve a war it began alongside Israel nearly six months ago.
In a social media message, Trump promised ‘Economic Warfare and Isolation on an unprecedented scale,’ although details were scant.
“Any country that allows its financial institutions, businesses, airports, or government entities to provide any type of lifeline to Iran will itself face Tremendous Economic Consequences,” Trump wrote.
Meanwhile, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said yesterday that the US will impose ‘the toughest sanctions in history’ on Iran , a focus on economic measures he suggested would lessen the need for new major military operations against Tehran.
Oil prices rose to more than a three-week high yesterday following those US threats of financial penalties aimed at forcing an end to a nearly six-month-old war that has stranded millions of barrels of Middle Eastern oil.
“I’m not sure why oil has popped up on this,” Bessent told CNBC. “If we are doing the maximum economic pressure, then that means that likely there will not be a large-scale kinetic restart,” he said, using a term referring to military force.
Bessent told CNBC he would share more details and “talk about exactly what we’re going to do” on Iran at a Press conference on Monday.
“It is a one-two punch. We have the blockade (on Iran), and we are going to have the toughest sanctions in history,” he added, referring to a US naval blockade imposed on Iran in April and paused for a month in mid-June.
“It is going to work in Iran and we are going to collapse this regime. It is time for our allies and the rest of the world to make a decision,” he said.
When asked if the United States could target China for doing business with Iran, Bessent said many conversations were best to have in private.
“Keep in mind that the Chinese get 50 per cent (of their) energy from inside from the Gulf. So it would do them a big service to get with the programme,” he said.
&uuid=(email))