[Anchor]
The United States has announced an operation to economically isolate Iran from the international society. As peace negotiations with Iran have stalled, Washington aims to completely cut off Iran's funding sources to force its submission. In response, Iran has retaliated with counter-sanctions in the Strait of Hormuz.
Reporting from Washington, this is correspondent Lee Hanseok.
[Reporter]
The "economic bullying campaign" unveiled by the U.S. Department of the Treasury targets countries that trade with Iran.
The Treasury announced that it will impose powerful secondary sanctions, such as tariffs, on companies and nations trading with Iran across five sectors: cryptocurrencies, gold, technology, aviation, and shipping.
This expands the existing economic sanctions against Iran—previously applied to seven sectors including construction, mining, crude oil, and petrochemicals—to a total of 12 sectors.
At the same time, the U.S. placed more than 60 entities, individuals, and vessels worldwide on its sanctions list to dismantle Iran's petroleum smuggling and sanctions-evasion networks, which serve as its core funding sources.
This is interpreted as an effort to completely strangle Iran's financial lifelines by cutting off its access to the U.S. dollar-based payment system.
[Scott Bessent / U.S. Treasury Secretary: Iran now faces a very clear choice between two paths: total international isolation and barely maintaining survival, or returning to normalcy by gaining an opportunity to rejoin the global economy.]
Iran expressed confidence, asserting that the United States cannot sever its economic arteries.
[Seyed Ali Madanizadeh / Iranian Minister of Economic Affairs: The government has established a two-year plan and is fully prepared for these developments, having already anticipated and prepared for this situation.]
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf mocked the economic bullying campaign as a bluff that even Americans do not believe.
Iran placed 45 tankers on its blacklist—including five vessels owned by South Korea's Sinokor Merchant Marine—warning that it could impose fines or seize cargo.
Meanwhile, Yemen's Houthi rebels struck a Saudi oil tanker with a missile in the Red Sea, and a tanker was hit near Oman in the Strait of Hormuz.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent stated that President Trump is calling world leaders to ask them to halt exchanges with the Iranian regime. However, U.S. media outlets forecast that unless the move prompts a change from China, Iran's largest trading partner, the sanctions will remain empty threats.
(Video filming: Oh Jung-shik, Video editing: Choi Hye-young)
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