Treasury Secretary Bessent Presses Iran Sanctions

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Thursday maximum economic pressure on Iran makes a “large-scale kinetic restart” of U.S. operations unlikely, after Trump threatened “Economic Warfare and Isolation” against Tehran. He told U.S. allies they are “either with us or against us” on sanctions. Asked about an oil-price spike, Bessent said he did not “really understand” it and called 24-hour moves “noise.” Bessent also said the deficit likely has peaked after July’s $432 billion shortfall, as Treasury doubled longer-dated debt buybacks.