The US Treasury Department is preparing to impose new secondary sanctions on Iran-linked entities every week, with banks likely to be among the first targets, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Reuters on Sunday, August 30.
Bessent said Washington would urge G20 finance ministers and central bank governors to cut economic ties with Iran, warning that institutions that continue facilitating Iranian funds could be cut off from the US dollar-based financial system.
“We’re starting with the banks,” Bessent said, adding that countries and financial institutions would be told that “it’s not okay to have Iranian money and to aid the regime.”
The comments come days after the US sanctioned the UAE branches of Egypt’s Banque Misr over alleged financial links to Iran. Bessent said the measures could escalate to excluding institutions entirely from the US financial system.
The new push builds on Washington’s Operation Economic Outcast, launched on August 24 as a broad campaign to sever Iran’s financial links around the world. Treasury said countries would be given timelines to shut down identified Iran-related activity, with entities that fail to comply facing US action.
Under the campaign, the US expanded potential secondary-sanctions exposure to five sectors — digital assets, technology, gold, aviation and shipping — and sanctioned nearly 60 entities, individuals and vessels tied to Iran’s nuclear and missile procurement, cyber operations and oil-revenue networks.
First Published: Aug 31, 2026 7:35 AM IST