Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent promised an “economic D-Day” against Iran and the foreign financial institutions helping keep its economy afloat. Economic experts say what arrived Monday looked more like a warning that D-Day is still to come.
The Trump administration rolled out a broad new sanctions package targeting Iran’s aviation, digital asset, gold, shipping, and technology sectors. It also named roughly 60 individuals, entities, and vessels accused of propping up Iran’s war machine through illicit commerce and sanctions evasion.
But Bessent stopped short of announcing the sweeping secondary sanctions against foreign banks and other financial institutions that administration officials had suggested were on the table ahead of Monday’s announcement. Instead, the treasury secretary said top administration officials, including President Donald Trump himself, would engage privately with leaders of countries to crack down on business ties with Tehran.
“We believe that a warning shot and a level set of expectations is appropriate,” Bessent said Monday afternoon, “and if people do not want to meet our expectations, then they should expect that they will leave the dollar system.”
The distinction between an “economic D-Day” and a “warning shot” quickly drew attention from economic experts who questioned whether the threat of sanctions was enough to suffocate Iran financially nearly six months into the war.
“Needless to say, calling today ‘D-Day’ and then framing it as a warning shot muddies the message a smidge,” said Gregory Brew, the Eurasia Group’s senior analyst for Iran and oil.
Brew added that Bessent’s remarks indicated that the United States is “trying to ratchet up pressure” on Tehran, without goading Tehran into striking neighboring countries or risk “angering Iran’s trading partners — most notably China.”
The administration signaled ahead of Monday’s announcement that it was preparing to expand its pressure campaign beyond Iranian entities themselves and increasingly target the countries and foreign financial institutions doing business with Iran.
Max Meizlish, a former Treasury official and research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said outright that Monday’s announcement falls short of the objective. He argued the Trump administration would ultimately need “more targeted action against the banks and financial institutions” aiding Iran.
Meizlish told the Washington Examiner that prior attempts to shame countries doing business with Iran, including China, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates, had fallen flat. He noted that the Trump administration already sent a letter in April to financial regulators in those countries and in Hong Kong, highlighting firms helping Iran evade U.S. sanctions.
“If we’re truly trying to create economic damage and and constrain the enemy’s ability to operate, and to survive, and continue functioning,” Meizlish said, “then what we’re going to have to do in some meaningful way is actually go after these banks and financial institutions abroad, pressure the regulatory environment, the regulators in all these other countries, and force them to choose between continued access to the U.S. dollar and servicing, whether directly or indirectly, the Iranian regime.”
Meizlish speculated that the administration pulled back from broader sanctions over concerns about “what kind of economic blowback there could be from our allies and partners.”
The White House declined to comment on criticism of the president’s new economic offensive against Iran.
One former Trump Treasury official, however, told the Washington Examiner that the administration was trying to thread the needle between “squeezing Iran to the brink of oblivion” and “limiting any downstream negative impacts on both American consumers and allies.”
Iran responded to Bessent’s announcement by claiming that the “narrative does not add up.”
“The largest financial offensive in history and the mobilization of all U.S. agencies and authorities have become necessary,” Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi wrote on social media. “Is this a victory or an admission of U.S. defeat?”
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During Monday’s press conference, Bessent sought to tamp down on criticism that the administration was pulling its punches. He declined to establish a specific deadline for countries to crack down on banks facilitating business with Iran but warned that “we do not have infinite patience.”
“We are giving everyone the opportunity to remedy bad behavior,” Bessent said. “Why would I want to blow up the global financial system? We believe that it is important to level set and give people a cure period, but they should know that that will move very quickly and that we are serious.”