"Economic Bullying Operation"... "A Bluff No One Believes"

[Anchor]

The United States has declared an operation to economically isolate Iran from the international community. As peace negotiations with Iran have stalled, the U.S. aims to completely cut off Iran's funding sources to force its submission. Iran has responded with retaliatory sanctions involving the Strait of Hormuz.

Reporting from Washington, this is correspondent Lee Hanseok.

[Reporter]

The "economic bullying operation" unveiled by the U.S. Department of the Treasury targets countries that trade with Iran.

The Treasury stated that it will impose powerful "secondary sanctions," including tariffs, on companies and countries that trade with Iran in five sectors: cryptocurrency, gold, technology, aviation, and shipping.

This expands the U.S. economic sanctions against Iran from the previous seven sectors, which included construction, mining, crude oil, and petrochemicals, to a total of 12 sectors.

At the same time, to dismantle Iran's core funding sources—namely oil smuggling and sanctions-evasion networks—the U.S. added more than 60 entities, individuals, and vessels worldwide to its sanctions list.

This is interpreted as an effort to completely tighten the financial grip on Iran by cutting off its access to the U.S. dollar-based settlement system.

[Scott Bessent / U.S. Treasury Secretary: Iran now faces a very clear choice between two paths: total international isolation and barely scraping by, or rejoining the global economy and returning to normalcy with the opportunity to do so.]

Iran expressed confidence, asserting that the U.S. will not be able to sever its economic lifeline.

[Seyed Ali Madanizadeh / Iranian Minister of Economy: The government has formulated a two-year plan to be fully prepared for these developments, and we have already been preparing for this.]

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf mocked the economic bullying operation as a bluff that even Americans do not believe.

Iran placed 45 oil tankers on a blacklist, including five vessels owned by South Korea's Sinokor Merchant Marine, and warned 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 an oil tanker was attacked near Oman in the Strait of Hormuz.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent stated that President Trump is calling leaders around the world to request a halt to exchanges with the Iranian regime. However, U.S. media outlets forecast that the sanctions will remain empty rhetoric unless they succeed in prompting a change in stance from China, Iran's largest trading partner.

(Photo courtesy of Oh Jung-shik | Video Editing by Choi Hye-young)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.