Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent held a press conference on Monday and announced what he called "Operation Economic Outcast," the broadest sanctions campaign the United States has aimed at Iran since a war that began when the U.S. and Israel struck Iran nearly six months ago.
That timeline matters for reading Monday's announcement correctly.
A currency that buys half of what it did a year ago also makes imported medicine, machine parts and fuel additives more expensive, the kind of inputs that ripple into everything from hospitals to factories long after the initial sanctions announcement fades from headlines.
On the ground, the tone was different.
The Environmental Protection Agency separately authorized an early transition to winter-blend gasoline, allowing lower-cost E10 fuel sales to begin Sept.
Scott Bessent announced sanctions on nearly 60 Iran-linked targets as the rial hit a record low and the six-month U.S.-Israel-Iran war deepened its economic toll.