Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced sanctions on Tehran’s nautical authority that is seeking to establish control over the Strait of Hormuz, denouncing it as “maritime extortion.”
The new sanctions were announced as part of Washington’s intensifying Operation Economic Fury, the effort to strangle Iran’s economy through economic and financial means. Iran has tried to maximize its one major trump card, proximity to the Strait of Hormuz, going so far as to assert complete control over the key waterway in recent weeks. To consolidate its claims of control, Tehran created the Persian Gulf Strait Authority, which was tasked with vetting vessels for approval through the waterway and collecting tolls for passage. The organization isn’t broadly recognized.
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In a statement, Bessent portrayed the establishment of the PGSA as proof that Operation Economic Fury was working.
“The Iranian military’s latest attempt to extort global maritime trade is proof that Economic Fury has left the regime desperate for cash,” he said.
“Through Economic Fury, the United States has imposed a financial stranglehold on the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism,” he said. “Treasury has deprived the Iranian regime of revenue for their weapons programs, terrorist proxies, and nuclear ambitions. Under President Trump’s leadership, we will remain relentless in our pursuit to constrict the network of vessels, intermediaries, and buyers through which Iran exports both its oil and malevolence.”
The sanctions effectively bar entities from paying “tolls” to the organization, as doing so would cut them off from most of the world’s financial infrastructure.
In a post on X, Bessent derided the PGSA as a “joke” and said proper warnings had been issued to corporate and state entities against making any payments to the organization. He boasted that the U.S. had formed a “Wall of Steel,” choking Iran’s oil revenue.
In the same post, Bessent also revealed that the U.S. would be sanctioning Iranian airlines, “shutting down both Iranian airlines’ access to landing spots, refueling, and ticket sales.”
“Only a satisfactory outcome in negotiations will end the downward spiral,” he said.
Bessent followed this up with a new threat that Washington would never tolerate a tolling system in the Strait of Hormuz.
“Oman, in particular, should know that the U.S. Treasury will aggressively target any actors involved – directly or indirectly – in facilitating tolls for the Strait and any willing partners will be penalized,” he wrote on X. “All nations should reject outright any efforts by Iran to disrupt the free flow of commerce. Tehran’s days of terrorizing the region and the world are over.”
The economic damage from the war, blockade, and Operation Economic Fury has put Tehran in an economic crisis of unparalleled proportions.
ESTIMATED IRANIAN ECONOMIC DAMAGE FROM WAR APPROACHES $150 BILLION
Research fellow and Middle East expert Zineb Riboua for the Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East at the Hudson Institute, stressed the impact of Operation Economic Fury on Iran’s economy earlier this month, saying it had closed many of its desperately needed sanctions loopholes.
“So whether the economic crisis is already there and is collapsing, I think we’re already there,” Riboua said. “The economy was not doing well way before the operation, and now it’s way worse. They obviously do not show it, because it’s not in their mentality to do so, but it’s not looking good.”
