Iran could face economic collapse in months, US Treasury’s Bessent warns

United States Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says Iran is taking the US’s newly imposed sanctions seriously as tensions between the US and Iran reach the six-month mark.

On Monday, Bessent said Iran is taking the sanctions seriously, and he told US business news network CNBC that the goal is “to create the conditions that they will want to come to the table” for negotiations.

His comments came on the sidelines of a meeting of Group of 20 (G20) finance ministers and central bank governors in Asheville, North Carolina in the US, amidst an economic pressure campaign the administration of US President Donald Trump has called “Operation Economic Outcast”.

“I would think that they are lashing out kinetically because they are losing economically,” Bessent told reporters on Monday.

Bessent said that he believes the Iranian economy could collapse “within weeks or months” and stressed that it does not have to happen. “We just have to have the regime come to their senses,” he said.

Last week, the US imposed a wave of new sanctions on Iran, hitting five sectors of the nation’s economy — aviation, digital assets, gold, technology, and shipping — as it also imposed sanctions on 60 specific individuals and vessels.

Bessent also touted support from trading partners, including the European Union, which he said backed the sanctions with “fulsome support”.

“The EU welcomes efforts at ensuring that Iran ceases its destabilising activities and engages in peace negotiations with good faith, also through additional economic pressure, including through the US-led Operation Economic Outcast,” the European Commission said in a statement.