Secretary of State Marco Rubio has told U.S. allies that the Trump administration does not currently plan to launch new attacks on Iran, doubling down on a strategic shift toward economic pressure after months of military action, Reuters reported Tuesday. The reaffirmation comes as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent rolls out the administration’s sweeping campaign to isolate Iran from the global economy, a strategy President Donald Trump has described as an economic offensive against Tehran and Bessent has called a “one-two punch” combining military pressure with sanctions. Bessent’s initial sanctions package, announced Monday, targeted nearly 60 individuals, entities, and vessels linked to Iran.
The measures target networks involved in Iran’s oil trade, military procurement, and cyber operations and expand the types of commercial activity that could expose foreign companies to U.S. secondary sanctions. Bessent said the United States is expanding the potential reach of secondary sanctions into areas including digital assets, gold, technology, aviation, and shipping. The administration, however, did not immediately impose the sweeping secondary sanctions that could hit major foreign companies and financial institutions doing business with Iran.
