Trump Administration Increases Sanctions Pressure On Iran Through “Operation Economic Outcast”

The Trump Administration launched “Operation Economic Outcast” on Monday, August 24, 2026, expanding U.S. economic sanctions targeting additional sectors of Iran’s economy in an effort to weaken the Iranian regime and drive a wedge between Iran and the countries with which it has continued to trade. U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessett announced this as an “an economic onslaught against Iran’s financial connections around the globe” and an effort “to sever every economic lifeline” that sustains the Iranian regime.

The most notable development is the explicit threat to impose sanctions on individuals, companies, and governments located anywhere in the world who continue to conduct or facilitate activity with Iran across an increased range of economic sectors (such sanctions are referred to as “secondary sanctions”). The announcement did not name any specific secondary country targets, thereby preserving the Administration’s flexibility to increase pressure over time on