WASHINGTON, Aug. 20 — U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday what he described as “the most crushing economic operation ever taken” against any country providing a lifeline to Iran.
“This will be Economic Warfare and Isolation on an unprecedented scale,” Trump posted on Truth Social, accusing Iran of failing to take the opportunity to make a deal.
Trump claimed that Iran’s navy is gone, its air force is destroyed, its military factories are in rubble, and its currency is worthless. “Their country is hanging by a thread,” he asserted.
“Today, I am also announcing that ANY country that allows its financial institutions, businesses, airports, or government entities to provide any type of lifeline to Iran will itself face TREMENDOUS Economic Consequences,” Trump warned.
Trump specifically demanded an immediate halt to financial and commercial conduits. Calling the move “an ECONOMIC D-DAY,” Trump urged allies to stand with the United States to “isolate, and defeat, the Iran threat.”
The president’s comments came nearly a week after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the United States would apply measures that have “never been seen” on Iran.
Bessent said on Aug. 13 that the Treasury Department has targeted Iranian “bank accounts, crypto wallets, assets around the world, cutting off payments into both the leadership in the regime and the government itself.”
He noted that Washington is stepping up a financial campaign against Tehran that began after Trump reinstated his “maximum pressure” policy last year and intensified it following the launch of military operations against Iran in February.
The United States and Iran remain at odds over the Strait of Hormuz and the terms for ending the conflict, with the future of their talks uncertain after a 60-day negotiating period set under a memorandum of understanding ended on Monday.
