U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on the 30th (local time) that banks conducting transaction with Iran will face additional sanctions this week.
According to the AP, Minister Bessent said this in an interview ahead of the Group of 20 (G20) finance ministers' meeting in North Carolina, warning, "If necessary, this will be 'financial violence.'"
He added, "We will show that we know exactly who they are and make clear that such behavior must stop." However, he did not disclose the names of the banks that will be added to the sanctions list this week.
Earlier, on the 28th, the U.S. Treasury Department designated five Abu Dhabi and Dubai branches of Egypt's state-owned bank Banque Misr in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as "primary money laundering concerns" to economically isolate Iran.
These branches are suspected of processing about $1.8 billion (about 2.4 trillion won) in illicit funds from 2024 through recently for front companies linked to Iran's Ministry of National Defense and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). After a 30-day comment period, if the measure is finalized, Banque Misr's UAE branches will be cut off from access to the U.S. financial system.
There was also mention of China. Minister Bessent, responding to criticism that China, a major importer of Iranian crude oil, was left off the latest U.S. sanctions list targeting Iran, said he would discuss the issue with the Chinese side at the G20 meeting, adding, "All options are on the table."
As for the view that the U.S. government is reluctant to confront China, he dismissed it as "a completely wrong frame created by the media." He then argued that the United States and China share the need to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and prevent Iran from possessing nuclear weapons.
The AP assessed that, given the U.S. government took a phased approach rather than imposing immediate direct sanctions on Banque Misr, some interpret this as continued caution about sanctioning Iran's major trading partners such as China and India.