U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent described an “absolute isolation campaign” against Iran that combines naval blockades, travel restrictions and efforts to close land routes with a plan to seize approximately $1 billion in cryptocurrency.

Bessent presented the Trump administration’s approach as an expansion beyond financial sanctions, designed to cut Iran’s ruling regime off from international markets, transportation and financial resources. Yahoo News reported that he outlined the measures on Thursday during a conversation with Greta Van Susteren at Newsmax’s NPolicy Summit in Washington, D.C., where he discussed the tightening pressure on Iran’s economy.

A broader isolation campaign

Bessent said the administration’s strategy combines financial pressure with military and maritime measures intended to quarantine Iran’s ruling regime. The stated objective is not only to restrict Iran’s finances but also to limit its access to transportation and international markets.

“We did have a maximum pressure campaign. Now we have an absolute isolation campaign and it’s working,” he told Van Susteren.

The measures he listed include naval blockades, restrictions on international flights and efforts to close overland routes. Bessent said Iran had already been isolated economically and characterized the broader campaign as producing results.

Oil exports and regime officials

Bessent predicted that the restrictions and blockades would bring Iran’s oil exports to a complete halt. He described military action and maritime blockades as elements of the effort to stop those exports.

“For the first time ever since they started pumping oil, the history of Iran, they will have no oil on the water for sale,” he said.

Bessent also claimed that the measures were causing panic within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Citing a report by The New York Times, he said the IRGC “is now panicking amongst themselves.”

According to Bessent’s account, restrictions on air travel prevent Iranian officials and regime-connected elites from leaving the country for personal trips or to access money abroad. He suggested that keeping those officials inside Iran would apply psychological pressure to the leadership.

Regional cooperation and cryptocurrency

Washington is working with regional partners to restrict land routes while targeting Iranian assets outside the traditional banking system. Bessent identified the United Arab Emirates and Oman as cooperating partners and said the administration was working with Pakistan and Turkey on overland closures.

“UAE has been a good partner. Oman has been a good partner. We’re working with Pakistan and Turkey to cut off all the land routes,” he said.

That multi-country coordination frames the crypto component as one piece of a wider effort aimed at assets moving outside traditional banking channels, rather than a standalone enforcement action.

The proposed cryptocurrency seizure remained a prospective action in Bessent’s remarks. “We’re probably gonna seize a billion dollars of crypto this week,” he said.

He added that the administration knew where the cryptocurrency was located: “And, you know, we know where it is and we are isolating them.”

The remarks stand out for their specificity — a Treasury Secretary publicly attaching a dollar figure and a one-week timeframe to a cryptocurrency seizure within an active sanctions campaign. Because the seizure was presented as a likely step for the week ahead rather than a completed action, any subsequent confirmation from the Treasury Department would indicate whether the $1 billion target materialized as described.

The report was published by CryptoNewsNet.