US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is due to unveil details tomorrow of a new package of sanctions on Iran, which he has described as ‘the toughest sanctions in history’.
Bessent said: “Any country that maintains a lifeline to Tehran will drive its economy towards the brink, whether that link is voluntary or whether it deliberately turns a blind eye to it.”
US President Donald Trump has said that he did not know with whom he could negotiate in Iran, noting that most of the country’s leaders had been killed and saying he did not believe anyone wanted to assume the presidency.
Trump also repeated his assertion that he regards the Strait of Hormuz as ‘American territory’, while stressing that the United States would not allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon.
The US president said Iran was very keen to reach a deal, predicting that energy prices would fall once operations related to Iran came to an end.
Earlier, Trump said Iran wanted an agreement but was still not prepared to accept ‘the right deal’.
He claimed that Iran’s inflation rate was extremely high, reaching 300 per cent, and said Tehran was unable to pay the salaries of its soldiers and police officers.
Trump also said the United States had ‘complete control of the Strait of Hormuz’, stressing that a shift towards economic warfare against Iran did not mean that Washington’s military options were limited.
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