U.S. Treasury Plans Weekly Secondary Sanctions on Iran-Linked Banks, Bessent Says

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the United States expects to impose new secondary sanctions on Iran-linked financial institutions on a weekly basis as Washington intensifies Operation Economic Outcast.

Reuters reported on August 30 that Bessent said the next phase of the campaign would focus first on banking institutions and could include measures that cut foreign banks off from the U.S. dollar-based financial system if they continue facilitating significant Iran-related activity.

The statement adds a new implementation signal to the campaign Treasury launched on August 24. In its official launch announcement, Treasury said Operation Economic Outcast would be a sustained effort to close Iran’s financial channels, expand secondary-sanctions exposure and act against entities facilitating money laundering or sanctions evasion for Iran. Treasury also said countries would be given defined timelines to shut down identified Iran-related activity.

The weekly cadence follows the August 28 action involving Banque Misr UAE. FinCEN proposed designating the bank as a primary money laundering concern under Section 311 of the USA PATRIOT Act, while Treasury also announced Iran-related sanctions measures. The FinCEN action remains a proposed rule rather than a final prohibition.

According to Reuters, Bessent also urged G20 finance ministers and central bank governors to reduce financial ties with Iran, signalling that U.S. enforcement may increasingly focus on third-country banks and other financial intermediaries rather than only Iranian entities themselves.

For financial institutions, the development increases the importance of monitoring not only direct sanctions-list changes but also counterparties, correspondent relationships and payment flows that could create secondary-sanctions exposure. The precise institutions and measures in future weekly actions have not yet been announced.