By FRANK ANDREWS, RAMI INOCENCIO AUGUST 27, 2026

The language used Monday by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent as he announced a new raft of sanctions against Iran was apocalyptic. The measures are part of the Trump administration’s plan to use economic pressure to force Iran to capitulate, to bring an end to the nearly six-month war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

The U.S. is “no longer managing the Iranian threat, we are ending it,” Bessent declared, with sanctions that he vowed would “sever every economic lifeline that sustains this tyrannical regime until Tehran stands alone.” 

Operation Economic Outcast will expand the categories for secondary sanctions against countries and entities that do business with Tehran and introduce new sanctions in sectors including technology, shipping and digital assets.

But Iran experts have not been convinced the new measures will have the kind of impact that would force the theocracy to accept defeat in a war President Trump predicted would last no more than six weeks, not months..”