Trump Vows 'Economic D-Day' Against Iran and Any Country That Continues to Trade With It, with Mechanics to Be Revealed on 24 August
US President Donald Trump has vowed an "economic D-Day" against Iran and any country that does business with it, threatening "tremendous" economic consequences for states including US allies that continue to transfer money, buy Iranian oil, or facilitate sea transfers to or from Iran. The announcement came as the conflict between the US and Iran approached six months, with military and diplomatic options increasingly exhausted. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated the exact mechanics of the new pressure campaign would be revealed at a news conference on 24 August 2026. He described the US posture as binary: "You are either with us or against us." Vice-President JD Vance described the campaign as a "new phase" in which economic pressure is the most effective tool available. The US has already announced Operation Economic Fury, combining US Treasury-coordinated sanctions against Iranian financial flows with a naval blockade against Iranian ports. The new measures are expected to expand the reach of secondary sanctions, targeting third-country entities that deal with Iran through channels touching the US dollar, potentially including major US allies such as Turkey and Iraq, as well as China. Sanctions experts, including veterans of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), noted that Iran has so far proved adept at circumventing sanctions through shadow vessels, new commercial fronts, and irregular financial channels, meaning the new measures would require sustained enforcement to be effective. The willingness of third countries, particularly China, to comply with US secondary sanctions is described by analysts as the central variable determining whether the campaign succeeds. Mohammed Hammouda, an export control and sanctions manager at the , told the BBC that Iran adapts quickly to new sanctions designations, requiring enforcement teams worldwide to continuously identify new evading parties.