“The Iranian regime is engaged in a ritual of economic self-immolation,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Friday, as the Trump administration imposed new sanctions on Iran’s oil-export “shadow fleet” amid a widening crackdown on protesters and mounting U.S. pressure across the region.
Bessent made the remarks in a single X post announcing the action and linking directly to the Treasury Department’s release, charging that Tehran’s decision to support terrorists over its own people has sent Iran’s currency and living conditions into free fall.
“Today’s sanctions target a critical component of how Iran generates the funds used to repress its own people,” Bessent said, adding that Treasury will continue tracking “the tens of millions of dollars that the regime has stolen and is desperately attempting to wire to banks outside of Iran.”
In its own statement, Treasury said the sanctions were imposed “amidst the Iranian regime’s brutal crackdown on peaceful protesters and its complete shutdown of internet access to conceal its abuses against the Iranian people,” as the Office of Foreign Assets Control increased pressure on the regime’s shadow fleet.
Treasury said the action targets vessels and associated firms involved in transporting hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of Iranian oil and petroleum products, revenue the department said is diverted to terrorist proxies, weapons programs, and security services instead of basic economic needs.
The State Department amplified the move in a press statement by Principal Deputy Spokesperson Thomas “Tommy” Pigott, saying the United States is acting to deny Tehran the resources it uses to oppress its population as inflation surges, infrastructure deteriorates, and electricity and water shortages deepen.
U.S. Central Command also pushed the sanctions across its X accounts in English, Hebrew, and Farsi, underscoring the administration’s effort to communicate directly to audiences inside and outside Iran.
The sanctions landed as Israeli media reported fresh regional disruption tied to the Iran standoff, with multiple international airlines canceling flights to Middle East destinations — including Israel — amid fears of escalation.
The economic pressure campaign is unfolding against an intensifying military backdrop after President Donald Trump said Thursday that a “big flotilla” — an “armada” — of U.S. forces is heading toward the region “just in case,” as he renewed warnings to Tehran over the regime’s violence against protesters.
“We have a lot of ships going that direction just in case,” Trump said aboard Air Force One while returning from Davos. “Maybe we won’t have to use it.”
The escalation also comes as protests inside Iran push deeper into their third week, with mounting estimates of the death toll. U.N. Special Rapporteur Mai Sato said conservative counts place fatalities above 5,000, while reports from doctors with Starlink access suggest the true number could reach 20,000 or more, as tens of thousands have reportedly been arrested amid near-total internet shutdowns.
Last week, Bessent warned that Iran’s ruling elites are “rats fleeing the sinking ship” as they frantically move stolen money abroad — language he has now paired with a broader message that the regime’s own choices, compounded by President Trump’s maximum-pressure campaign, are accelerating its economic and political collapse.
Joshua Klein is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @JoshuaKlein.
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