Bessent says U.S. will freeze Iran-linked offshore assets in pressure campaign
Key Takeaways
- •Bessent said the U.S. is considering secondary sanctions that could remove Iran-linked entities from the dollar system, banking system, Fed wire and SWIFT access.
- •He said officials have identified offshore accounts and luxury properties tied to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
- •Bessent said the administration may freeze assets linked to the IRGC and other entities doing business with it, including possible airline leasing companies.
- •He said the goal is to stop Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and from using highly enriched uranium to support proxy networks.
- •Bessent also said Washington and Beijing share common ground on preventing an Iranian nuclear weapon and maintaining freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent outlined an aggressive economic campaign against Iran, warning that the Trump administration could cut off banks, firms, and other entities doing business with the regime from the U.S. dollar-based financial system.
Speaking during a fireside chat with FOX Business’ Larry Kudlow on Tuesday at the G20 Finance Ministerial in Asheville, North Carolina, Bessent said the U.S. had identified offshore accounts tied to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), including holdings at trust companies and luxury real estate assets.
"Countries that go against this embargo, you'll cut them off," Kudlow prefaced, referring to the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports. "Secondary sanctions, you take them out of the U.S. dollar system, you'd take them out of the U.S. banking system, you take them out of the Federal Reserve wire, take them out of the SWIFT ledger?"
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"That's what happened to this bank in Dubai, and it could be entities, it could be airline leasing companies, which we'll be looking at. It could be anyone who does business with the IRGC, we are tracking down the IRGC's assets, and I will say it on worldwide TV, just so you know," Bessent said. "We know where in the British Virgin Islands your accounts are at these trust companies, we know the $100 million houses you have around the world, and we are going to freeze those."
"We are going to our partners, we are going to close all of that down. So we are going to go after the regime's illegitimate assets that they have stolen from the Iranian people, and those can go back to the Iranian people, or they can go to the victims of terror, like the families of the soldiers who are on the USS Cole," Bessent continued.
Bessent first announced on Aug. 24 that the United States would impose what he described as the economic equivalent of the military campaign that defeated Nazi Germany against the Islamic Republic of Iran.
His remarks came after President Donald Trump pledged to launch an "economic D-Day" against the Tehran regime. The broader U.S. pressure campaign targeting Iran’s already troubled economy could have major effects on the country’s population of more than 90 million people, while also signaling to foreign firms and financial intermediaries that exposure to sanctioned networks can carry consequences beyond Iran’s borders.
"We will stop this regime's ability to have a nuclear weapon, to have their current highly-enriched uranium to project terrorist power through their proxy networks and to terrorize the Gulf," Bessent said. "And we are telling people, either you are with us or against us."
He also addressed China’s role, saying there was common ground between Washington and Beijing on Iran.
"And everyone says to me, ‘Well, what about China? I said, we have more in common with the Chinese on Iran than we disagree with [them] on. The Chinese agree — Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. The Chinese agree that there should be freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz. So we have had private discussions with them in terms of achieving those goals."
Fox News’ Benjamin Weinthal contributed to this report.