US threatens Iran with ‘unprecedented’ economic isolation

The United States has threatened to impose sweeping new economic measures against Iran that officials claim would be unprecedented in scale. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent made the warning during an interview with conservative television network Newsmax on Friday evening, signalling that major new sanctions could be announced within days.

“Watch developments over the next week, because we are about to take steps as they have never been seen before in the history of economic isolation of a country,” Bessent said. The remarks suggest the Trump administration is preparing to escalate its hardline stance towards Tehran with measures that would go beyond existing sanctions regimes.

The warning comes amid heightened tensions between Washington and Iran over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear programme and regional activities. If implemented, such measures would represent a dramatic intensification of the “maximum pressure” campaign that has characterised recent US policy towards Tehran. The specifics of what additional sanctions might entail remain unclear, though Bessent’s comments suggest they could target Iran’s financial system, oil exports, and international trade relationships more broadly than current measures.

Source: Walla News — Original article in Hebrew.