Bessent Says Unnamed 'Large Bank' Will Be Sanctioned Monday in Escalating Iran Pressure Campaign

Since Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent launched 'Operation Economic Outcast' in August, the U.S. has shuttered the Dubai branches of Egypt's second-largest bank, sanctioned a Turkish lender accused of laundering Iranian oil money, and hit more than 60 entities, vessels and individuals tied to Tehran's finances. Now Bessent says the next target is coming Monday, September 15, a bank he still won't name.

Bessent made the announcement Thursday, September 10, on "Real America's Voice." "We're going to do it on Monday because we want to honor the memory of our fallen citizens on 9/11," he said, according to CNBC. "But watch this space on Monday."

TradingView reported the sanction was originally slated for Friday, September 11, but got pushed a few days to avoid overshadowing the 25th anniversary commemoration of the September 11, 2001 attacks. Bessent gave no name, no country, and no hint at the bank's size beyond calling it "large."

This is the third bank in roughly three weeks. Bessent told Breitbart News on Tuesday, September 8, that the Trump administration closed the Dubai branches of Egypt's second-largest bank after determining it moved $1.8 billion to Iran over two years, and separately shut down a Turkish institution he described as the country's 30th-largest bank. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control confirmed on September 4 it had designated Turkey-based Golden Global Yatirim Bankasi Anonim Sirketi and its subsidiaries. Golden Global has denied wrongdoing and said it plans to challenge the sanctions in court, according to TradingView.

Bessent has leaned into blunt, almost theatrical language to describe the campaign. At the Breitbart event he compared Iran's regime to a decapitated snake that "doesn't know it's dead yet." On "Real America's Voice" he called Iran a "cornered and wounded animal" and warned any company still doing business with Tehran risks "an extinction-level event" for its finances. He's also pointed to two London penthouses reportedly linked to Iran's Supreme Leader now up for auction as evidence the pressure is working.

Iran's government is publicly shrugging off the threat. Economy Minister Ali Madanizadeh told state television, as reported by the Times of Israel and relayed by Fox News, that Washington is headed for "another defeat" and that Tehran has a two-year plan already in motion to manage the fallout. "They have done everything they could to test the determination of the Iranian people and the country's officials, but they have failed every time," he said.

Sanctions campaigns take years to bite, and Iran has weathered heavy U.S. sanctions before without regime collapse. Epoch Times reported on September 1 that the Iranian rial has cratered and the government is printing money to cover its bills, which suggests real strain. But strain isn't collapse, and Madanizadeh's claim of a prepared contingency plan is an assertion from an interested government official, not an independently verified fact.

Bessent hasn't ruled out going after banks in China either. Asked directly whether Chinese financial institutions could be targeted, he told Daily Wire, "No one is above the reach of U.S. sanctions." That would be a bigger fight than Turkey or Egypt if it happens, given the size of China's banking sector and its trade relationship with Washington.

War Secretary Pete Hegseth has said the administration isn't ruling out renewed military strikes on Iran either, telling reporters the U.S. won't hesitate to use "kinetic strikes" in the Strait of Hormuz if Iran "overplays their hand," according to Fox News. For now, though, Bessent's team is betting the money pressure works faster than the last round of missiles did.

The open question is simple: which bank, and which country, gets named Monday. If it's a Chinese institution, expect a much louder reaction out of Beijing than anything Ankara or Cairo produced over the last month.