U.S. Threatens With ‘Single Greatest Financial Offensive Ever’ Against Iran. Tehran Takes Aim At Oil Traffic.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the U.S. is unleashing an "economic D-Day" against Iran as of Monday, calling it the "greatest financial offensive ever marshaled against an adversary."

"The Islamic Republic has subsisted by dressing extortion as security guarantees. It has drawn strength from a calculus that regards Iranian retaliation as certain and American enforcement as negotiable. Under President Trump, that era is over. And those who fear the danger of defying Tehran ought not to discount the cost of testing Washington," Bessent claimed in a social media post.

He went on to say that Trump "has created the conditions to leverage every agency, every authority and action many assumed we would never summon. Our objective is to sever every economic lifeline that sustains the tyrannical regime until Tehran stands alone.

Officials from the Trump administration, including the president himself, have said the U.S. will double down on economic pressure against Tehran, choosing that path over a return to active conflict.

Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf appeared to acknowledge the impact of economic pressure last week, saying military might alone is not enough to move the country forward.

"No matter how much military power we have, if people are hungry and we don't have financial circulation, economic growth and domestic production, we will not endure," Qalibaf said in a meeting with Iranian and Iraqi business leaders at the Iranian embassy in Baghdad.

He went on to say that economic stability and security are inseparable. "If we establish security but do not sustain it through the economy, it will not last," he added, also accusing the U.S. and Israel of conducting what he described as "cognitive" warfare.

In the same line, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian called for an end to the war, saying the country should pursue the goal while on top. "It is better to end the war today, when we are powerful and respected and the whole world acknowledges our victory," he said.

However, on Monday Iran warned neighboring countries against joining the economic measures. Top Iranian commander Mohsen Rezaei, who recently became the new secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said any country "that becomes a partner in creating economic restrictions against us will be regarded by us as an enemy."

Elsewhere, Iran's state-controlled Persian Gulf Strait Authority said vessels warning its transit rules through the Strait of Hormuz could face "fines, seizure, or confiscation" in the future.