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Scott Bessent said the United States will target another bank over Iran-linked business this week. He will use the G20 meetings to press other countries to cut financial ties with Tehran or risk US retaliation.
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Asheville,UPDATED: Aug 31, 2026 04:06 IST
The Trump administration plans to impose sanctions on another bank this week as part of its effort to curb transactions with Iran, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Sunday. Ahead of Group of 20 meetings, he said he would press countries to take part in the economic isolation of Iran.
Speaking to The Associated Press before the meetings, Bessent said the US was prepared to step up pressure on those that continue to do business with Iran. "This is going to be financial violence if we have to," Bessent said in the interview. "We are showing people that we know who you are, you know who you are, and this has got to stop."
Bessent spoke ahead of the G20 meetings in Asheville, North Carolina, where he is scheduled to meet individually with counterparts from the world’s major and developing economies. He had recently announced a new campaign to push countries that still do business with the already heavily sanctioned Islamic Republic to cut their financial ties or face retaliation from the United States.
The Treasury Department’s first official action in this campaign came on Friday in the form of a proposed rulemaking. If finalised, it would cut off the Emirati branches of Banque Misr, Egypt’s second-largest bank, from access to the US financial system.
By stopping short of imposing sanctions on the Egyptian bank, the Republican administration appeared to signal reluctance to penalise major trading partners that do business with Iran, including China and India, whose officials Bessent is due to meet this week. Bessent told the AP he would speak to his Chinese counterparts at the G20 meeting and that "all options are on the table" when it comes to sanctioning Beijing for its continued purchases.
He rejected the suggestion that the administration was reluctant to act, calling it "a completely false narrative that the media picked up on". He also said China and the United States agree on the need to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.
In sum, Bessent said the US would continue to tighten financial pressure on Iran and those doing business with it, while using this week’s G20 meetings to seek wider backing for that effort.
With PTI Inputs
- Ends
Published By:
India Today Web Desk
Published On:
Aug 31, 2026 04:06 IST
