US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in an interview with Newsmax that the policy of "maximum pressure" against the Islamic Republic has given way to a campaign of "absolute isolation", a campaign that, he said, targets the regime's financial, maritime, air and land links and "is working". The interview was aired on Thursday, 8 October 2026, and was widely covered by Persian-language media on Friday, 9 October. At the same time, Donald Trump said again on Friday that the war with the Islamic Republic will soon be over.
According to Kayhan London and Iran International, Bessent said the United Arab Emirates and Oman are cooperating with Washington in this campaign and that the United States is in talks with Pakistan and Turkey to close the land routes into and out of Iran. He added that the naval blockade means the Islamic Republic will no longer have any oil on the water to sell.
Seizure of one billion dollars in crypto and travel restrictions on officials
According to DW Persian and IranWire, Bessent said Washington will likely seize around one billion dollars in cryptocurrency assets linked to the Islamic Republic by the end of the week, and that the United States knows where these assets are. He also announced restrictions on international flights to prevent travel by Islamic Republic officials and people affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, remarking sarcastically that IRGC commanders can no longer travel to London for cosmetic surgery, to Paris to see a lover or to Geneva to spend money.
The remarks came a day after the US Treasury Department sanctioned 17 tankers of the Islamic Republic's shadow fleet.
Washington says that after the sea and the air, it is now targeting the Islamic Republic's land routes and crypto assets.
Trump: the war will end soon
According to Euronews Persian, Donald Trump said at a White House event on Friday, 9 October, that the United States has prevented the Islamic Republic from obtaining a nuclear weapon and that the war will soon be over "one way or another". He claimed that had the Islamic Republic obtained an atomic bomb, it would have targeted first Israel, then European countries and even American cities. Trump had previously said he would not attack Iran before the midterm elections, but that the naval blockade continues.
According to Al Jazeera, Trump also announced on Friday an agreement with Russia for the immediate supply of 300,000 tonnes of diesel, followed by another 1.5 million tonnes, a move to curb rising fuel prices in the United States, one of the consequences of the war and of insecure shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
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