US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Sunday declared that the Trump administration was entering the "endgame" in its campaign against Iran. He announced what he described as an "economic D-Day" aimed at severing Iran’s economic lifelines. His remarks were made in a post on X.

Bessent stated that President Trump had dismantled Iran’s military capabilities, destroyed nearly all of its military factories, and buried its nuclear program. He emphasised that the United States was now entering the final phase of its strategy. He said, "At dawn begins an economic D-Day – the single greatest financial offensive ever marshalled against an adversary."

He accused Iran of using security guarantees as a form of extortion. He argued that Tehran had relied on the expectation that Iranian retaliation was certain while US enforcement could be negotiated. He said, "The Islamic Republic has subsisted by dressing extortion as security guarantees. It has drawn strength from a calculus that regards Iranian retaliation as certain and American enforcement as negotiable."

Bessent added that under President Trump this era was over. He warned that those who feared the danger of defying Tehran should not underestimate the cost of testing Washington. He said Trump had created the conditions for the US government to deploy its full range of authorities against Iran. He explained, "The President has created the conditions to leverage every agency, every authority and action many assumed we would never summon."

He declared that the objective was to sever every economic lifeline sustaining the regime until Tehran stood isolated. He said, "Our objective is to sever every economic lifeline that sustains the tyrannical regime until Tehran stands alone."

Meanwhile, Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaei warned that Tehran could halt all oil exports through the Strait of Hormuz and elsewhere in the Persian Gulf if the United States’ economic war continued. In a post on X, Rezaei said, "If the economic war continues, not a single drop of oil will be exported. Neither through the Strait of Hormuz nor from anywhere in the Persian Gulf." He added that Iran would regard any country’s participation in or support for America’s economic war against the Iranian people as an act of war.

The warning came amid heightened tensions between Tehran and Washington over US plans for tougher economic measures. Earlier on Sunday, Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf ridiculed the United States following the fresh sanctions threat by President Trump. He used satirical commentary to argue that heavy-handed economic restrictions ultimately backfire.

In a post on X, Ghalibaf mocked the limitations of trying to manage deep-seated financial strain through short-term interventions. He wrote, "Importing frozen meat to fix meat prices. Okay, that might work. What’s the plan for bonds, import frozen yields? Frozen homebuyers for housing? Frozen paychecks for wages? A frozen foreign policy delivers a frozen economy. The only thing still moving? The Iran boomerang."

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei also criticised the sanctions threat. He said that war and sanctions were not unfamiliar to Iran, noting that the Islamic Republic had been under sanctions for 20 years. He argued that Iran had endured such measures before and would continue to resist.

Iran’s rebuttal followed Trump’s announcement on Wednesday of what he called an "Economic D-Day" campaign against Iran. He described it as the "most crushing economic operation ever taken against any country." He said the campaign would amount to "Economic Warfare and Isolation on an unprecedented scale." He urged US allies to join Washington in isolating Iran.

Trump also said Washington had "very draconian sanctions" available against Iran and suggested that additional measures could be announced. He said, "We have things that we could sanction. We have very draconian sanctions, and we’ll see what happens." He explained that Washington would determine its next course of action based on developments. He added that the situation could either result in a significant fall in oil prices or lead to continuation of existing measures.

On Thursday, Bessent had already warned Iran of the "toughest sanctions in history." He said Washington would pursue coordinated economic isolation against Tehran and seek to "collapse this regime." He urged US allies to join Washington in isolating Tehran, claiming that the measures would weaken Iran’s ability to project influence globally. He also said that a media conference scheduled for Monday, 24 August, would reveal "exactly what we’re going to do" against Iran.

ANI