US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Monday that Washington's escalating economic pressure on Iran is intended to force Tehran back to the negotiating table, rather than pursue regime change.
In an interview with CNBC, Bessent said the combination of the US "Operation Economic Outcast" sanctions campaign and the naval blockade is already putting significant pressure on Iran's economy.
"As President Trump has been saying over the past few weeks, he doesn’t think they’re ready to make a deal and I think that Operation Economic Outcast is going to make them want to make a deal between that and the blockade. They are cut off. We are, you know, we are starting to see their elected leadership openly complain about the state of the economy to, they’re speaking to the Iranian hardliners in public. They’re talking to the Iranian people," he said.
Asked directly whether regime change is the objective, Bessent said the administration's goal is to create conditions that would persuade Iran to negotiate.
"The goal here is to create the conditions that they will want to come to the table. And the President’s been very clear. They have to give up their nuclear program. They have to turn over the highly enriched uranium, and they have to stop their support of proxies, and the strait has to be open," he said.
Bessent also rejected the argument that Washington cannot cripple Iran's economy without China's cooperation. He said the blockade has left Iran with only about 30 million barrels of oil "on the water" and argued that even continued Chinese financial support would not be sufficient to sustain Tehran indefinitely.
"Again, as I’ve said many times, with many countries [it is] better to deal with them in private. But I would push back on that false narrative, that somehow the media has jumped on this, oh, you can’t do it without China. That, well, you can, because one of the things is there’s only the 30 million barrels of Iranian oil left on the water because of the blockade. So even if they were to get remittances from China, that’s going to run out. And we have more in common with the Chinese on Iran than we disagree on. The Chinese agree that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. The Chinese agree that the Strait must be open to free and fair ship transit."
Bessent's comments came days after he unveiled "Operation Economic Outcast," a campaign aimed at further isolating Iran and restricting the flow of funds to its government. The United States subsequently announced sanctions targeting UAE branches of Egypt's Banque Misr.
Under the Treasury Department's proposal, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network would cut Banque Misr UAE off from correspondent banking relationships with US financial institutions, limiting its ability to conduct dollar transactions involving Iran.
Bessent said Sunday that the administration is also preparing sanctions against another bank this week as it intensifies the campaign.
"This is going to be financial violence if we have to," Bessent told The Associated Press. "We are showing people that we know who you are, you know who you are, and this has got to stop."
Despite the administration's emphasis on economic pressure, US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has said military action remains an option.
“By no means are we foreclosing using kinetic strikes anywhere in the Strait of Hormuz or around Iran," Hegseth told reporters last week.
Hegseth also said Iran is unable to withstand the economic pressure being applied by Washington.