The Trump administration’s plan to crush Iran’s economy will likely negate the need for further U.S. military operations against the Islamic republic, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC on Thursday.
“If we are doing the maximum economic pressure, then that means that likely there will not be a large-scale kinetic restart,” Bessent said in an exclusive interview with “Squawk on the Street.”
The Cabinet secretary’s comments came hours after President Donald Trump declared on Truth Social that the U.S. plans to choke Iran’s economy by levying major economic penalties against any country that provides “any type of lifeline” to Tehran.
“This will be an ECONOMIC D-DAY, and we need all of our Allies to stand with the United States of America to isolate, and defeat, the Iran threat,” Trump wrote in the Wednesday evening post.
The announcement came as the war against Iran nears the six-month mark without any hint that the U.S. is close to clinching either a diplomatic or military victory.
Bessent told CNBC that he will be holding a press conference on Monday to “talk about exactly what we’re going to do.”
In a preview of the plan, he said that the U.S. will be telling all of its allies, “You are either with us or against us.”
“If you insist on doing business with [Iran], either transferring money, buying their oil or doing seaborne ship transfers, then the U.S. Treasury and the U.S. government … will put its full might and force toward enforcing against you,” Bessent said.
“This is going to be the greatest coordinated economic isolation in the history of the world,” he said.
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