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Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent made plain what this administration has been doing: launching a renewed “maximum pressure” campaign meant to choke off Tehran’s access to the global financial system and accelerate the collapse of the regime’s warped economy. Bessent spelled out the plan in recent remarks, saying the White House intends to squeeze Iran’s oil revenues and dismantle the networks that keep its war machine funded.
The centerpiece is unmistakable — driving Iran’s oil exports from about 1.5 million barrels per day back down to the trickle they were before President Trump left office, a campaign Bessent described bluntly as designed for “immediate maximum impact.” That direct, unembarrassed approach — dubbed by Treasury as “Making Iran Broke Again” — is a sober, hard-nosed strategy that puts economic pressure where it hurts Tehran most.
Iran is showing just how fragile it is: runaway inflation, a currency in freefall, and social unrest have pushed the regime to the brink, evidence that sustained sanctions can have real political and economic consequences. Observers note the country’s economic disarray and the protests that have followed, underscoring that America’s pressure campaign is not abstract — it lands on a vulnerable, cash-strapped system.
The Treasury has not limited itself to rhetoric; it is targeting the shadow fleet, teapot refineries, and the regional facilitators who launder Iranian oil revenues, using designations and information-sharing tools to cut off every pipeline of illicit finance. Bessent highlighted the FinCEN Exchange and recent designations as practical instruments to make sanctions stick, a necessary blend of public policy muscle and private-sector cooperation.
Critics will always sneer that “maximum pressure” is an old playbook, but those critics ignore the facts: coercive economic measures, when applied smartly and relentlessly, reduce Iran’s capacity to fund proxies, enrich its nuclear ambitions, and export terror. Conservatives should applaud a policy that prioritizes American security and leverages our financial might rather than surrendering influence to naive diplomacy or indulgent appeasement.
Bessent’s message was plain and patriotic — the United States is using every tool to protect itself and its allies, with clear benchmarks and timelines to measure success. If national security means denying hostile regimes the means to wreak havoc, then this administration’s unapologetic use of economic power is not only justified, it is necessary to keep America and its partners safe.
