The Donald Trump administration has launched a new campaign to intensify economic pressure on Iran; a campaign that Scott Bessent, U.S. Treasury Secretary, described as “unprecedented,” saying the aim is to cut off Iran’s “economic lifelines” abroad.

Within this program, Washington has expanded the scope of sanctions to other parts of Iran’s economy, adding dozens of individuals, companies, and ships to the sanctions list, and announced that it will increase pressure on banks, companies, and foreign intermediaries that continue to cooperate with Iran; including by setting deadlines to stop certain activities that Washington says serve Iran’s trade and revenues.

This campaign, which Washington calls an “economic isolation operation,” is announced amid a fragile ceasefire and at a time when Iran’s economy, after months of military conflict, disruption to oil exports and foreign trade, high inflation, and a sharp decline in the value of the national currency, has been severely damaged.

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