US says it will impose unprecedented measures on Iran

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Thursday (13/8) that the United States will implement measures that have ‘never been done before’ against Iran. ‘Keep watching this page for further announcements to be released next week, because we will be implementing measures that have never been done before in the history of economic isolation of a country,’ Bessent said in an interview with the programme ‘Rob Schmitt Tonight’ on Newsmax. Bessent said Washington is intensifying its financial campaign against Tehran, which began after US President Donald Trump reactivated his ‘maximum pressure’ policy last year and strengthened it following the launch of military operations against Iran in February. He added that the US Treasury Department has targeted ‘bank accounts, crypto wallets, and Iranian assets around the world, cutting off payment flows to the regime’s leaders as well as the government itself’. Bessent referred to ‘Operation Epic Fury’, the joint US-Israel military campaign against Iran that began on 28 February, and stated that the US Treasury Department is now shifting towards what he called ‘Economic Fury’. The US Treasury Department will carry out a combination of economic isolation and a sustained blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, Bessent said.