Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Tuesday at a meeting of finance ministers from the Group of 20 nations that he had received significant support for the United States’ initiative to strangle Iran’s economy.
Speaking on the sidelines of the two-day summit, Mr. Bessent expressed optimism that the European Union, Britain and the United Arab Emirates were prepared to join the United States as it embarks on “Operation Economic Outcast.” The Trump administration unveiled the campaign last week and has warned that countries that fail to sever economic ties with Iran will face U.S. sanctions and other economic penalties.
“We are going to economically asphyxiate this regime,” Mr. Bessent said in an interview with Larry Kudlow on Fox Business.
The Treasury secretary went on to say that Iran reminds him of the snakes he encountered as a child growing up in South Carolina. He recalled that poisonous snakes used to continue wiggling their tails after being decapitated.
“We are burying the head of the Iranian snake.” Mr. Bessent said. “The snake doesn’t know it’s dead yet, but it will stop wiggling when the sun goes down.”
Mr. Bessent said that the Treasury Department would announce additional sanctions on banks that Iran relies upon to facilitate transactions that fund its economy. He also said that the department was working to seize Iranian leaders’ assets abroad, including, specifically, money in bank accounts in the British Virgin Islands.
Last week, the United States shut down the Dubai branch of an Egyptian bank that the Treasury Department said had helped Iran evade sanctions.
The war in Iran has roiled the global economy, sending global energy prices higher and slowing growth around the world.
The Treasury secretary expressed optimism that the disruptions would be temporary. He predicted that oil transport routes would quickly adjust to Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, a consequence of the war.
“In two years, the Strait of Hormuz will be a worthless piece of water,” Mr. Bessent said.
While the United States is trying to marshal global support to confront Iran, it is facing blowback from American allies over President Trump’s trade policies.
The newly announced tariffs on Canadian goods have come under repeated criticism from other attendees at the conference. On Tuesday morning, Lars Klingbeil, the German vice chancellor, told reporters that “tariff conflicts waged by the U.S.A., such as currently with Canada, destroy trust” and “ultimately harm everyone involved.”
On Monday, Mr. Bessent dismissed the retaliatory measures that Canada, which is the United States’ second largest trading partner, has taken. He suggested in an interview on CNBC that the northern neighbor of the United States was too small to wage a trade war.
“I don’t think you can be in a tit-for-tat with someone who’s 13 times larger than you are,” Mr. Bessent said, referring to the size of the countries’ economies.
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