The Trump administration intends to sanction another bank this week as part of its intensified efforts to economically isolate Iran, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told The Associated Press on Sunday.
"This is going to be financial violence if we have to," Bessent said in an interview ahead of Group of 20 meetings in Asheville, North Carolina. "We are showing people that we know who you are, you know who you are, and this has got to stop."
The administration has recently signaled a shift from military strikes to economic pressure in the conflict with Iran, which has already endured decades of sanctions. Bessent is expected to meet with counterparts from major and developing economies at the G20 summit to encourage cooperation against Iran.
Hostilities between the U.S. and Iran flared on Sunday when U.S. forces struck Iranian rocket launchers on the Strait of Hormuz, the first military action in a month. Iran has vowed retaliation.
The Treasury Department's initial action in this campaign of economic pressure was a proposed rulemaking Friday that would, if finalized, sever the Emirati branches of Banque Misr, Egypt's second-largest bank, from access to the U.S. financial system. The administration appeared to signal reluctance to penalize major trading partners like China and India that do business with Iran by stopping short of imposing sanctions on the Egyptian bank.
Bessent stated that "all options are on the table" regarding potential sanctions on China, Iran's largest trading partner and leading oil buyer, if it continues its purchases. He rejected the notion that the administration was reluctant to confront China, calling it a "completely false narrative." Bessent insisted that China and the U.S. share common ground on the need to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.