{"id":2364,"date":"2026-08-15T16:25:54","date_gmt":"2026-08-15T16:25:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vaultinsider.top\/?p=2364"},"modified":"2026-08-15T16:25:54","modified_gmt":"2026-08-15T16:25:54","slug":"what-bessents-economic-isolation-of-iran-could-look-like","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vaultinsider.top\/?p=2364","title":{"rendered":"What Bessent\u2019s economic isolation of Iran could look like"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/img-assets\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-2287240193-e1786807224673.jpg?w=2048\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says the US is\u00a0getting ready to squeeze\u00a0Iran with unprecedented economic pressure, a claim critics greeted with skepticism given the country is already subject to a naval blockade and thousands of sanctions.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While the Trump administration hasn\u2019t said what it\u2019s planning to do, there are still pressure points that Bessent\u2019s Treasury Department could hit. The main challenge is that targeting the remaining options risk blowback on the US economy.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cUnless the president decides to prioritize addressing the Iran threat over all other issues, and namely China, it\u2019s unlikely any action they take is going to materially change Iran\u2019s calculus,\u201d Bloomberg Economics analyst Chris Kennedy said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Below is a look at a few options. They\u2019re far from exhaustive and it remains unclear which, if any, the administration will pursue. Officials could combine several of these measures or opt for a different approach altogether.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">China Ties<\/h3>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">China buys more than 90% of Iran\u2019s oil exports. Penalties on entities that facilitate these purchases would directly reduce Tehran\u2019s oil revenues.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Washington has already sanctioned some Chinese teapot refineries and firms since the US started the war against Iran in late February. But so far, the US has\u00a0stopped short\u00a0of targeting the major Chinese banks that finance the trade.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">GLOBAL REACT: Bessent\u2019s Iran Threats Face China Constraint<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The risk is that hitting Chinese companies or financial institutions risks worsening tensions with Beijing ahead of a planned meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping. There\u2019s also an economic tradeoff, since curtailing Iranian barrels would remove discounted crude from the global market and could lift already elevated oil prices.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In May, China ordered domestic companies\u00a0not to comply\u00a0with US sanctions on five refiners, while its biggest banks were caught between Beijing\u2019s directive and the risk of losing access to the US financial system.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Exchange Houses<\/h3>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There are a number of exchange houses in countries such as the United Arab Emirates that help Iran repatriate funds. Once Iran makes its oil sales, it still needs exchanges and intermediaries to convert payments \u2014 often received in Chinese yuan \u2014 into currencies Tehran can actually use.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Treasury has already demonstrated that it sees this as a vulnerability, sanctioning some Iranian exchange houses, as part of Bessent\u2019s \u201cEconomic Fury\u201d campaign, for allegedly helping to\u00a0launderbillions of dollars in foreign currency.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Such a move would keep Iran from accessing many of its funds, but Iran has spent years building alternative channels to move money outside the formal financial system. Cutting off individual exchange houses will likely push transactions toward new intermediaries, currencies or digital assets, rather than stopping them altogether.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Iran\u2019s Trading Partners\u00a0<\/h3>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The US could threaten secondary sanctions on any entity doing even limited business with Iran, similar to the approach Trump took toward North Korea in 2017. That could force foreign companies and banks to choose between doing business with Iran and retaining access to the US financial system, potentially extending Washington\u2019s leverage well beyond entities directly involved in Tehran\u2019s oil trade.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Such a move could put additional pressure on Russia and China, but also on companies and financial institutions in countries around Iran\u2019s borders \u2014 including US partners like Turkey \u2014 that maintain significant commercial ties with Tehran.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Trump has already floated a version of this approach,\u00a0threatening\u00a025% tariffs on countries conducting business with Iran. So far he hasn\u2019t followed through.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Overseas Assets<\/h3>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The US could go beyond freezing Iranian government assets and try to confiscate assets already under US jurisdiction, drawing on a step the Bush administration took after the 2003 invasion of Iraq.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, the pool of Iranian state assets actually within US reach may be limited. And confiscating them would be legally and diplomatically more complicated than simply freezing them. Much of Iran\u2019s overseas wealth is held in third countries and Washington would need cooperation from foreign governments to seize it.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Shadow Fleet<\/h3>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While a US naval blockade has reduced traffic to Iran\u2019s ports, the US may consider a more comprehensive effort. That could target not just individual vessels, but also the companies, terminals and other infrastructure that enables those shipments. The US has already sanctioned vessels and some entities involved in this so-called shadow fleet.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>#Bessents #economic #isolation #Iran<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Treasury Secretary Scott Besse&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2365,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4604,2646,456,4605],"class_list":["post-2364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance-news","tag-bessents","tag-economic","tag-iran","tag-isolation"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>What Bessent\u2019s economic isolation of Iran could look like - Finance News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vaultinsider.top\/?p=2364\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"zh_CN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What Bessent\u2019s economic isolation of Iran could look like - 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