US Launches Operation Economic Outcast to Isolate Iran Through Secondary Sanctions

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced on August 24, 2026, the launch of Operation Economic Outcast, a campaign designed to isolate Iran by threatening secondary sanctions on any country or company that continues to do business with Tehran.

Bessent said the United States had mapped every node, facilitator and network Iran uses to smuggle oil and evade existing sanctions. The new measures expand secondary sanctions risk into five sectors: digital assets, technology, gold, aviation and shipping. Any entity facilitating money laundering or trade for Iran risks removal from the US dollar system.

“Our objective is to sever every economic lifeline that sustains this tyrannical regime until Tehran stands alone,” Bessent said. He framed the effort as an “economic D-Day” and an “economic onslaught” against Iran’s financial connections around the globe.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control simultaneously sanctioned more than 60 entities, individuals and vessels across multiple jurisdictions, including the United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, China, Singapore and Switzerland. These were accused of enabling procurement of nuclear and missile technology, cyber operations and oil-revenue generation.

Bessent stated that Iran faces a clear choice between complete global isolation and a subsistence economy, or a path back to normalcy. He declined to name specific countries or set public timelines, saying only that the United States does not have infinite patience and that private timelines had been communicated.

President Donald Trump has been calling world leaders to urge them to cut financial ties with Iran. The campaign comes amid an ongoing military conflict that has included a naval blockade of Iranian ports and earlier strikes related to the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran denounced the measures as gross lawlessness and expressed confidence that many countries would not join the pressure campaign. China, Iran’s largest oil customer, has previously criticised secondary sanctions as illegal.

The announcement expands earlier secondary sanctions categories and accelerates enforcement. Bessent emphasised a “zero-leakage approach” intended to block revenue that funds the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the wider Iranian government.

Iran’s currency has recently reached record lows against the dollar. Trump has claimed the Iranian economy is collapsing. Whether the new secondary measures can force a change in Tehran’s behaviour or simply accelerate existing economic pressure remains to be tested in practice.

Secondary sanctions work by raising the cost of doing business with the targeted country for third parties that value access to the US financial system. Their effectiveness depends on the willingness of major trading partners, particularly China, to accept higher costs or find alternative payment channels.

Bessent said no one is above the reach of US sanctions. The coming weeks will show how far Washington is prepared to push that claim and how trading partners respond.