U.S. Treasury Secretary says administration will sanction another bank this week

The U.S. Treasury Department will target another financial institution with sanctions this week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told the Associated Press on Sunday. The move is part of a broader effort to increase economic pressure on Iran ahead of the Group of 20 summit in Asheville, North Carolina, where Bessent will meet his counterparts from major and developing economies.

"This is going to be financial violence if we have to," Bessent said, adding that the United States is demonstrating its awareness of the entities involved and that the activity must stop.

The administration has shifted its strategy from direct military action to heightened economic measures, describing the upcoming steps as an "economic D-Day" against Iran, which has endured long-standing sanctions. On the same day, U.S. forces struck Iranian rocket launchers in the Strait of Hormuz, marking the first military engagement in a month, while Iran pledged retaliation.

Bessent indicated that discussions with Chinese officials at the G20 will include the possibility of sanctions against Beijing for continuing oil purchases from Iran. He dismissed reports that the administration is hesitant to confront China, calling the narrative "completely false" and emphasizing shared interests in reopening the Strait of Hormuz and preventing Iran’s nuclear development.

The Treasury’s first formal action in this campaign was a proposed rule on Friday that would, if finalized, cut off the Emirati branches of Banque Misr—Egypt’s second-largest bank—from the U.S. financial system. By stopping short of sanctioning the Egyptian bank, the administration appears to signal caution about penalizing major trading partners that conduct business with Iran, such as China and India.