Operation Economic Outcast is a recipe for success against Iran

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday launched what he called Operation Economic Outcast — a global campaign to shut down every last source of financial oxygen feeding a fractured rump regime in Tehran that’s already circling the economic drain.Combined with the US military’s growing success in covertly moving oil out of the Strait of Hormuz, President Trump will edge one step closer to checkmate against Iran’s Revolutionary Guard when he gives the green light to drop the hammer on nations that ignore America’s final warning.The United States can’t force other countries to join a bombing run.It can’t compel foreign navies to patrol the Persian Gulf.

But it can change economic behavior through the threat and imposition of US secondary sanctions — on private banks, brokers and exchanges, airport authorities and aviation service providers, shippers and insurers, and even state-owned enterprises and government instrumentalities.The threat of secondary sanctions can shut down trade across land borders and keep airplanes grounded.It can also disrupt the movement of cash, cryptocurrency, goods and services.Pulling the trigger on these sanctions can be disruptive.

It can break a diplomatic relationship, crash a foreign country’s economy or cause temporary knock-on effects in the global economy.We saw examples during the first Trump administration, from tanking the Turkish lira to free an American Christian pastor to shaking up global shipping to force China’s COSCO to stop carrying Iranian cargo.It takes courage for a president to authorize this kind of total financial warfare.But that’s exactly what appears to be happening with a Treasury Secretary empowered to do whatever it takes to bring down Iran’s financial house of cards.That’s very bad news for the IRGC.

Every escape hatch from the naval blockade is about to close.From its immediate neighbors to its sanctions evasion hubs across the Gulf, Europe and China, to its one-off schemes in...