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A top official at the Treasury Department told FOX Business she believes the “Iranians know that the U.S. is winning” as the Operation Economic Outcast sanctions campaign is ramping up pressure against Tehran.
Under Secretary for International Affairs Erin Browne made the remark this week as Iran’s official currency plunged to record lows with an exchange rate of over 2.5 million rials to the American dollar.
“I think the Iranians know that the U.S. is winning in terms of our economic isolation and Economic Outcast against Iran. And we’ve seen the rial fall to its lowest levels. Again, on Tuesday, it hit an all-time low,” Browne said.
“So we’re seeing the economic damage that this conflict is imposing upon Iran. And the U.S. will continue and be completely relentless in ensuring that they are completely isolated from the global financial system as long as this conflict remains in practice,” she added.
US HITS IRANIAN AIRLINES WITH ‘SWEEPING SANCTIONS’ UNDER OPERATION ECONOMIC OUTCAST
When the Treasury Department launched Operation Economic Outcast against Iran on Aug. 24, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, in a news release, described it as an “economic onslaught against Iran’s financial connections around the globe.”
“Teams from the Departments of Treasury, State, and War are engaging counterparts around the world to make clear that the United States expects immediate action. Every country will be given a defined timeline to shut down the Iran-related activity we have identified. If they fail to act, Treasury will act,” the department said at the time.
“Any entity that facilitates money laundering or sanctions evasion on behalf of Iran risks being cut off from the U.S. financial system,” it added, noting that the campaign “also expands secondary sanctions exposure for those who continue doing business with the Iranian regime and will accelerate the pace of U.S. enforcement.”
The aggressive strategy, described as an “Economic D-Day,” targets critical industries such as Iran’s digital assets, technology, gold, aviation and shipping in an effort to eliminate the revenue streams that fund international terrorism, Bessent said.
“So over the last month, Operation Economic Outcast has been a complete success,” Browne told FOX Business. “Under the direction of President Trump, the U.S. is systematically ending all access of Iran to the financial system globally. So not only are we cutting them off with respect to the financial system, we are also cutting them off militarily and cutting them off from an industrial sector standpoint, so that they will have no access for funds on a go-forward basis.”
“We have moved from maximum pressure to absolute isolation, and this has been really effective. Even in the last week, we’ve taken a number of steps as a government in order to cut off Iran across all three avenues,” she added. “So financially, we have continued to put pressure on them to end any type of financing that they do on a global basis, including cutting them off from all financial networks.
“We’ve also taken steps militarily, as you’ve seen over the last few weeks. In fact, this week, we sanctioned another 11 individuals in order to end any type of military procurement of the Iranian army. And then also, from an industrial perspective, we have continued to destroy their industrial framework and their logistical framework so that they are cut off from all logistical transportation, including from their aviation sector.”
Bessent announced this week on X that “Iran loaded ZERO crude oil onto tankers in September,” as the Trump administration is “cutting off the Iranian regime’s most critical source of revenue.”
Just over the last week, as part of the campaign, the Treasury Department also said it sanctioned the “A7 Network, a shadow banking network with ties to Russia used by the Iranian regime to evade sanctions.”
“The A7 Network was created and backed by U.S.-sanctioned persons in order to evade sanctions. It has developed a global web of Sub-Agents, companies that are purpose-built to disguise payments linked to sanctioned sectors and persons as ordinary commercial activity,” the department said Thursday. “The A7 Network has been leveraged by Iran, including Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.”
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The day before, the Treasury said it was “targeting some of the last significant elements of Iran’s failing industrial infrastructure, including its rail and automotive conglomerates.”
FOX Business’ Louis Casiano contributed to this report.
