Scott Bessent, the U.S. Treasury Secretary, said that Washington will likely announce fresh secondary sanctions every week to increase economic pressure on Iran, and that the initial focus will be on banks.

He also said that the U.S. blockade of Iran’s ports reduced China’s oil imports from Iran, and emphasized that he disagrees with the assessment that the success of the economic pressure campaign against Iran depends on imposing secondary sanctions on Chinese companies.

Speaking to Reuters, Bessent said that after the action on Friday against branches of Egypt’s National Bank in the UAE over alleged financial ties to Iran, the next step could be the full severing of a financial institution’s access to the dollar-based financial system.

He said: “You’ll see more cases like this every week. We started with banks and told them that holding Iran’s money and helping the government is not acceptable.”

The U.S. Treasury Secretary added that at a meeting of the G20 finance ministers and central bank governors, countries will also be asked to reduce their economic ties with Iran, otherwise they will face secondary sanctions.

📷Reuters