US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Monday, 5 October 2026, that the Donald Trump administration's economic pressure campaign against the Islamic Republic, which Washington calls Operation Economic Outcast, is producing results and has damaged Iran's economy.
According to Voice of America, Bessent said in a post on the social network X that the rial's fall to its lowest level in history and the halt to Iranian crude oil loadings last month were signs that the campaign is working. He said the United States would keep up the pressure until the Islamic Republic stops financing terrorism and pursuing nuclear weapons.
The rial's collapse and the halt to oil exports
According to Iran International, the dollar reached about 2,723,000 rials on Tehran's open market on Sunday, 4 October, and the euro rose above 3,060,000 rials. According to the same report, year-on-year inflation has reached 89.8 percent, with food prices rising even faster. DIAR has previously reported on the new record for the dollar and the euro on the Tehran market and the economic security police crackdown on websites publishing exchange rates.
Bessent had also said earlier that no Iranian oil cargo was on the water this week and that the Islamic Republic was earning no revenue from oil sales. According to him, Washington's strategy has three interlinked parts: military strikes, a naval blockade and the economic isolation of the Islamic Republic. Voice of America also reported that the US Treasury Department added ten individuals and entities to its sanctions list on 2 October for evading sanctions.
The impact of economic pressure inside Iran
The Treasury Secretary's remarks come a few days after Mohsen Paknejad, the Islamic Republic's oil minister, resigned from his post as oil exports came to a halt. Mohsen Rezaei had also described the current situation, at a meeting of the government's economic headquarters, as one of the most difficult periods in the country's history. At the same time, reports point to a wave of nurses and teachers quitting their jobs because of inadequate pay.
The US Treasury Secretary sees the rial's collapse and the halt to oil exports as signs that the economic pressure campaign against the Islamic Republic is succeeding.
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