Trump admin unveils anti-Iran global sanctions plan, signals China not exempt

The Trump administration on Monday announced a plan to isolate Iran’s economy by threatening to impose secondary sanctions on the “enablers” keeping the Islamic Republic afloat.

“We are launching an economic onslaught against Iran’s financial connections around the globe,” Treasury Scott Bessent said as he unveiled the new sanctions scheme, dubbed “Operation Economic Outcast.”

President Donald Trump is calling world leaders and making “specific requests to cease their interactions” with Iran, Bessent said at the Treasury Department.

The promised sanctions have yet to be imposed. The U.S. will instead start by sending timelines to individual countries to “shut down activities we have identified,” Bessent said.

“Any entity that facilitates money laundering on behalf of Iran will be removed from the U.S. dollar system,” he said. “The clock just started ticking.”

The plan, which Trump had hyped as Iran’s “Economic D-Day,” quickly drew questions about whether the U.S. would also go after China, Tehran’s top trading partner.

Washington and Beijing have maintained a fragile trade truce for months, following an escalatory trade war last year. Trump and President Xi Jinping met for a pageantry-laden summit in Beijing in May, and Xi is scheduled to meet with Trump in Washington in late September.

Bessent suggested at Monday’s event that China would not be exempt.

“We want to make clear here today that no one is above the reach of U.S. sanctions,” Bessent said when asked if the administration would target Chinese banks, or if it would avoid doing so in order to preserve relations with Beijing.

“If they facilitate transactions and are part of the ecosystem that turns Iranian oil into money, into repression, they will be targeted,” Bessent said.

The plan to attack Iran’s economy came as the U.S. war against Tehran approaches the six-month mark with no hint of a military or diplomatic victory on the horizon.

A weak ceasefire agreement reached in June had already been largely discarded before its 60-day deadline expired last week. The Strait of Hormuz, a vital pathway for the world’s oil trade, continues to give Iran leverage and remains far less active than it was before the war began. The U.S. has reported fewer strikes against Iran in recent weeks, amid reports and speculation that stockpiles of some weapons have been depleted.

Bessent said Monday that the new U.S. objective “is to sever every economic lifeline that sustains this tyrannical regime until Tehran stands alone.”

The regime’s enablers include those who buy or transport its oil, facilitate its financial transactions, accept its flights and allow it conduct seaborne transfers, he said.

The U.S. is also expanding its sanctions scope to target those who participate in Iran’s digital assets, technology, gold, aviation, and shipping sectors, said Bessent.

-CNBC