Here's the latest
• Economic pressure: US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is expected to reveal later today details on the US’ plans to tighten financial screws on Iran. He warned in a newspaper op-ed of an “economic D-Day,” on a country which has been so far numb to economic pain.
• Differing views: There appears to be growing differences within Iran’s leadership on how to handle the conflict with the US. While President Masoud Pezeshkian said Iran “cannot continue with war forever,” others have continued to reject dialogue.
• Strait of Hormuz: Oman’s Foreign Minister will visit Iran tomorrow for talks on the critical waterway. Iran’s state-controlled Persian Gulf Strait Authority (PGSA) warned that ships violating transit rules in the strait could face penalties including detention or confiscation.
Tanker struck by projectile off Saudi Arabia's Red Sea coast, UKMTO says
A tanker has been struck by unknown projectile 63 nautical miles west of Saudi Arabia’s port city of Yanbu, causing a fire on the vessel’s main deck, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) reported.
All crew are safe and accounted for and no environmental impact has been reported, UKMTO reported, adding that “vessels are advised to transit with caution and report any suspicious activity.”
Since the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, Saudi Arabia has rerouted much of its oil exports through Red Sea ports such as Yanbu.
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels have targeted Saudi shipping in the Red Sea for several weeks, threatening an oil-export route that has become increasingly important since the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Yanbu lies about 900 kilometers (560 miles) from the nearest part of Yemen.
Iran warns NATO member Bulgaria against facilitating US, Israeli attacks
Iran warned NATO member Bulgaria on Monday against allowing its territory to be used for Israeli or American military action against the Islamic Republic, saying it reserved the right to strike the source of any attack.
“It was previously announced – and reports have also confirmed – that several refueling aircraft have left Bulgarian territory,” he said. “As many Bulgarian citizens and politicians themselves have acknowledged, this action is contrary to international law and amounts to support for the military aggression by the United States and the Israeli regime against Iran.”
Iran has previously warned the Balkan nation, which is also a member of the European Union, against allowing the US to make use of its airbases in the war. Last month, Bulgaria’s parliamentary Defense Committee approved a government proposal to allow the temporary deployment of US aerial refueling tanker aircraft and American military personnel at Bezmer Air Base, a move that drew a sharp warning from Iran against facilitating US military operations.
At the time, Baghaei said any participation in the planning or execution of such operations would amount to complicity in “the crime of aggression and war crimes.” He urged Bulgaria’s full parliament to reject the deployment.
Baghaei added on Monday that Iran has been “playing chess for a long time,” and in recent years, “we’ve also learned to play poker,” he said, referring to Tehran’s evolving war strategy. US President Donald Trump told Fox News this month that Iranians are “good poker players, but they’re dying.”
US likely to enforce Iran sanctions more strictly and target its oil, ex-Treasury official says
The United States is likely to enforce its sanctions on Iran more strictly instead of expanding them, and put pressure on Tehran’s oil ecosystem in its “economic D-Day” measures, a former Treasury official told CNN on Monday.
The US could also target Iran’s oil in order to cut off an economic lifeline, he said.
Beijing buys roughly 90% of Iranian crude exports, according to a fact sheet by a US Congress commission. China doesn’t acknowledge importing Iranian crude in its customs data.
“There will be some pressure on small, medium-sized teapot refineries in China who are purchasing Iranian oil. That will put more pressure on Iran’s revenue generation, and also the banks and exchange houses that allow the Iranian regime to repatriate some of those revenue and get access to foreign currency,” said Maleki.
The Treasury Department has sanctioned such independent Chinese refineries, but in May, Beijing ordered its companies to ignore the restrictions.
Trita Parsi, executive vice president of Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, said Iran is not likely to capitulate even with the latest economic measures. The US has been sanctioning Iran since 1979.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is set to unveil details of the economic pressure campaign in a news conference on Monday. In a Financial Times op-ed published a day earlier, he wrote “we are entering the endgame.”
Trump is vowing pressure on a nation used to economic pain
Iran, already drained by years of sanctions and a brutal military onslaught from the United States and Israel, now faces another test as President Donald Trump moves to further tighten the economic screws on the Islamic Republic.
The US is preparing measures, to be revealed at a news conference later on Monday, of what Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent promises to be “the toughest sanctions in history” amid deadlock on talks to end the six-month war and as Iran continues inflicting global economic pain by disrupting shipping through the crucial Strait of Hormuz.
By the admission of its own top officials, Iranians are suffering.
“We are apologetic that these problems exist, as we find ourselves in a full-scale economic, military, and security war,” Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said, according to state media.
Read more: Trump is trying to tighten the screws on an Iran numb to economic pain
Oman's foreign minister to visit Iran to discuss Strait of Hormuz
Oman’s Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr Al-Busaidi will visit Tehran on Tuesday to discuss the Strait of Hormuz and other developments in the region.
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei confirmed the upcoming visit and discussions about the vital waterway, the country’s Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported Monday.
Both Iran and Oman have coastlines along the vital strait. The two countries have been in talks on new shipping routes through the waterway.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to attack Oman, a US ally and negotiator in the conflict.
Control over the Strait of Hormuz has become a focal point in the war. Over the past several months, both Iran and the United States have claimed the upper hand.
Catch up: Bessent echoes Trump's "economic D-Day" threat, details expected Monday
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned in a Financial Times op-ed Sunday that an “economic D-Day is coming for Iran” and threatened countries that do business with Tehran. His warning echoes US President Donald Trump’s economic threat against Iran last week. Bessent is expected to announce details at a news conference on Monday.
The economic effects of the war are reverberating in the US. Gas prices remain high, and a Federal Reserve official said Sunday that the US’s inflation target may remain out of reach until the war ends.
Meanwhile in Iran, officials’ responses to the threats from the US appear to show some differences within its leadership over how to proceed with the war.
Catch up on the news from the weekend:
- Iran pushes back: Iran’s security chief vowed Sunday to “neutralize the economic war” with the US and threatened to halt oil flow out of the Strait of Hormuz, Iran’s state-affiliated Press TV reported. The Supreme National Security Council head Mohsen Rezaei also warned neighbors that cooperation with the US will prompt Iran to “target their interests.”
- Different perspective: However, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Sunday that the country “cannot continue with war forever,” suggesting differences within the Tehran leadership.
- Shipping updates: Iran warned on Sunday that vessels violating its transit rules in the Strait of Hormuz could face penalties including detention or confiscation. Iran is allowing some Iraqi oil tankers to pass through the strait, Reuters reported Saturday, citing the Iranian state-run Islamic Republic News Agency, but shipping traffic through the strait remains low.
- Iran-Pakistan meeting: Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, will visit Tehran on Monday to hold talks with senior Iranian officials, Iranian state-run media reported.
CNN’s Tim Lister, Aida Karimi, Xiaoqian Lin, Lisa Wong and Auzinea Bacon contributed reporting.
US is unlikely to get China, Iran's major trading partner, to join economic war on Tehran
US President Donald Trump’s threat of an “economic D-Day” against Iran is unlikely to bend the country to his will without China joining in. But Trump has little leverage over China to make that happen.
Last week, the American president vowed “tremendous economic consequences” against countries that continue to do business with Tehran. And on Sunday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent doubled down on Trump’s warnings, promising the “single greatest financial offensive ever marshalled against an adversary” in a Financial Times op-ed published a day before he’s expected to unveil details on Washington’s pressure campaign.
Beijing buys roughly 90% of Iranian crude exports, according to a fact sheet by a US Congress commission. China doesn’t acknowledge importing Iranian crude in its customs data.
That’s unlikely to change now, especially as China sees how unpopular the ongoing conflict has been within the US and abroad, and as Chinese leader Xi Jinping is set to visit the United States next month.
After a tumultuous year of US-China relations triggered by his renewed tariff offensive, Trump has every reason to prevent tensions between the world’s two largest economies from flaring up again. His May visit to Beijing has calmed the waters for now.
In response to Washington’s economic pressure campaign against Iran, Lin Jian, China’s foreign ministry spokesperson, said that “sanctions and pressure tactics are not the solution.”
“China calls on parties to act responsibly and stick to the political and diplomatic approach,” he reiterated on Friday.
Trump also possesses increasingly limited economic options he could leverage against China. The US Treasury Department has sanctioned independent Chinese refineries that have been importing Iranian crude, but in May, Beijing ordered its companies to ignore those restrictions.
Any major US moves against China could also risk provoking countermeasures from Beijing. China holds a trump card in rare earths — critical minerals necessary for making many items, from smartphones to electric vehicles and fighter jets. With China processing about 90% of the world’s supply, Trump must tread carefully while Western nations attempt to build alternative supply chains.
Ahead of news conference, Bessent promises “economic D-Day is coming for Iran”
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned in an op-ed Sunday that an “economic D-Day is coming for Iran” and threatened countries that do business with Tehran but gave little detail.
“Now we are entering the endgame. At dawn begins an economic D-Day — the single greatest financial offensive ever marshalled against an adversary,” he wrote in a Financial Times op-ed, a day ahead of a planned news conference.
CNN has reached out to the Treasury Department to ask for more details. Bessent is set to hold a news conference Monday at 1 p.m.
The secretary’s op-ed echoes remarks by President Donald Trump, who last week also threatened an “economic D-Day” against Iran, vowing to impose “tremendous economic consequences” on countries that do business with Tehran. The US is seeking to ratchet up the economic pressure to get Tehran to return to the negotiating table.
“Iran’s enablers purchase and transport its petroleum,” Bessent wrote in the Financial Times, adding, “They turn a blind eye to seaborne fuel transfers and the illicit use of their banks, all while concealing the extent of their complicity.”
“In short, these countries calculate appeasement of the regime to be the safer course. But they would do well to consider the consequences of sustaining it,” he wrote.
Bessent also warned that if Iran responded militarily to economic action by the United States, Trump would “respond swiftly and decisively.”
This post has been updated to indicate the revised timing for Bessent’s press conference.
Ships violating Hormuz transit rules could be seized, Iran warns
Iran warned on Sunday that vessels accused of violating its transit rules in the Strait of Hormuz could face penalties including detention or confiscation, signaling potential risks for shipping through one of the world’s most strategically important waterways.
In a series of posts on X, Iran’s state-controlled Persian Gulf Strait Authority (PGSA) said vessels that violate what it described as Iranian arrangements governing transit through the Strait of Hormuz could face “fines, seizure, or confiscation” during future passages.
The authority urged cargo owners shipping to or from the Persian Gulf to review what it called a “Non-Compliant Vessels” list before chartering ships in order to avoid potential issues.
There appears to be growing differences within the Iranian leadership. What they have said
There seems to be growing debate within the Iranian leadership on how to handle the conflict with the United States, with some implying Tehran should now negotiate from a position of strength before its economic crisis worsens, while hardliners in the security apparatus continuing to reject dialogue.
A recap of what Iranian officials have said recently:
President Masoud Pezeshkian
Iran “cannot continue with war forever,” Pezeshkian said on Sunday. He defended the memorandum of understanding that Iran reached with the US in June, despite the purported misgivings of Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei.
The Iranian president has also frequently warned of the economic and social consequences of the conflict.
Security chief Mohsen Rezaei
Rezaei vowed to “neutralize the economic war.” He also threatened to shut down all shipping traffic if any of Iran’s neighboring countries enter US President Donald Trump’s economic war.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei
Baghaei pushed back on Trump’s threat last week of an “economic D-Day,” calling it “a recipe for an abysmal return to full-scale classic colonialism.”
The Iranian Foreign Ministry warned that those who order or implement the levies “are liable to prosecution and punishment,” reported state media IRIB.
Hossein Taeb, close ally of Iran’s supreme leader
Taeb said Trump’s current rhetoric stems from “desperation” as he vowed Tehran “will not submit” to the US, Iranian semi-official media reported on Saturday.
Taeb also said Iran would not reopen the critical Strait of Hormuz unless “our conditions are fulfilled.”
CNN’s Aida Karimi, Tim Lister, Billy Stockwell, Valey Arya and Laura Sharman contributed reporting.
