Trump Gave Scott Bessent An Enormous Task – With Washington conscious of its shortage of interceptors and precision-guided missiles following months of conflict with Iran, President Donald Trump is now giving U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent an enormous task: forcing Iran into compliance through American economic power. And the hope is that he can achieve results quickly and do what months of American military might couldn’t quite achieve.
Bessent said Thursday that Washington will impose the “toughest sanctions in history” against Iran, part of what the administration says will be an unprecedented attempt to isolate Tehran from the global economy. Trump has simultaneously threatened countries that continue providing Iran with an economic lifeline. It means Bessent now has a huge role to play in the conflict, but delivering the kind of economic isolation Washington is promising could prove far more complicated than announcing another sanctions package.
The guided-missile destroyer USS Donald Cook (DDG 75) steams behind the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) in the Persian Gulf on Jan. 31, 2006. The Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group is conducting maritime security operations in the Persian Gulf.
(DoD photo by Airman Apprentice Nathan Laird, U.S. Navy. (Released))
Iran has spent years developing methods of moving oil and money outside conventional Western financial channels, and China – the destination for more than 80% of Iran’s shipped crude – has already rejected Washington’s demand to cooperate.
And Bessent will have to oversee the campaign while simultaneously dealing with major problems inside his own department and growing pressure in U.S. financial markets.
Trump Turns to Economic Warfare
Trump announced this week that Washington will pursue “Economic Warfare and Isolation on an unprecedented scale,” while Bessent also said that his objective is to combine financial measures with the existing U.S. naval blockade to force Tehran into compliance. Trump calls it “economic D-Day.”
The U.S. Treasury has promised to provide more details about the plans on Monday, August 24, but the goal is clear so far.
Washington is looking to deprive Tehran of the revenue and international financial access it needs to sustain the conflict until continuing the war becomes more expensive than just accepting an agreement with the United States.
Whether an agreement will be worth the paper it is written on is an entirely different matter.
But there are signs that the plan is already beginning to work – even without the new measures.
Iranian oil shipments to China have fallen significantly since the war began, with Kpler data showing that Chinese imports of Iranian crude dropped to around 534,000 barrels per day in August, compared to 1.4 million barrels per day on average in 2025. Iranian oil stored aboard tankers outside the blockade has also fallen from approximately 105 million barrels to 80 million barrels. Importantly, though, the fall in exports to China is not the result of China cooperating with the United States, but of the ongoing U.S. naval blockade.
Announcing Sanctions is the Easy Part
Announcing new sanctions is the easy part. Now Bessent needs to enforce them.
Iran’s oil trade, after all, does not depend exclusively on major Western banks or multinational energy companies that can easily be frightened away by American penalties or threats.
Tehran has survived economically by developing networks of intermediaries and shell companies, and by operating shadow-fleet tankers and utilizing alternative payment systems designed specifically to survive U.S. sanctions. The Treasury knows this and has already begun targeting cryptocurrency networks, shipping companies, and independent Chinese refineries involved in the trade.
In April, for example, it sanctioned Hengli Petrochemical’s Dalian refinery, which the Treasury said had received Iranian crude from vessels in a sanctioned shadow fleet.
But Trump’s new plans are far more ambitious, and they go beyond simply making Iranian commerce difficult. Washington is talking about coordinating total economic isolation, which requires identifying companies facilitating Iranian trade and then forcing governments and businesses around the world to stop dealing with them.
The Challenges Bessent Will Face
China is already proving to be the biggest obstacle for the United States. Beijing buys more than 80% of Iran’s shipped crude and has already publicly rejected Washington’s demand to join the campaign. On Thursday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said that sanctions and military pressure will only escalate the conflict, not end it.
That leaves Bessent with a tough choice: Washington can sanction individual Chinese refineries or intermediaries, but completely isolating Iran is impossible without forcing China into total compliance. It is, after all, Iran’s biggest economic ally.
And that’s not Bessent’s only problem.
The Treasury Department has experienced substantial leadership turnover since President Trump returned to office, including the departure of seven Senate-confirmed officials. And though several vacancies have been filled, this kind of economic warfare requires enormous coordination and expertise, and Bessent is already dealing with domestic economic problems. Between inflation and federal debt – not to mention the economic consequences of the war – Bessent has an enormous challenge ahead of him.
The best result for Washington at this stage would be the threat alone working – and there are already signs that Iranian leadership is willing to come to the negotiating table before heightened economic isolation kicks in.
About the Author: Jack Buckby
Jack Buckby is a British researcher and analyst specializing in defense and national security, based in New York. His work focuses on military capability, procurement, and strategic competition, producing and editing analysis for policy and defense audiences. He brings extensive editorial experience, with a career output spanning over 1,000 articles at 19FortyFive and National Security Journal, and has previously authored books and papers on extremism and deradicalization.
