Washington/Tehran/Tel Aviv – US President Donald Trump on Monday insisted Iran is “COMPLETELY COLLAPSING” ahead of an announcement of economic measures that are expected to put further pressure on the country’s economy. “IRAN IS COMPLETELY COLLAPSING!!!” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
His post comes as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is set to announce a plan to ramp up pressure on the Iranian economy at a press conference on Monday afternoon.
Also on Monday, Iran’s currency dropped to a record low of more than two million to the US dollar on the open market, according to websites that track the currency’s movement.
The US Treasury Department threatened damaging new sanctions on countries that refuse to cut economic ties with Iran — but stopped short of actually imposing big new penalties.
“We find that the best way to engage with countries is through quiet diplomacy, and we are level-setting with every country to tell them our expectations,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said. “We know who they are. They know who they are.”
In a new effort to ramp up pressure on Tehran, the Trump administration said Monday that it has expanded the categories of “Iran-related conduct” that the US might sanction in the future, and that it plans to give nations specific defined timelines to end their relationships with the regime.
The new sanctions include penalties that cover sectors like digital assets, technology and shipping that the Treasury Department determined Iran has relied on to prop up its economy.
Yet despite Bessent’s vow of an “economic D-Day” for Iran, the US is holding off on imposing the biggest sanctions that it has threatened.
Instead, the administration said it will work with “counterparts around the world” to shut down their activity tied to Iran. Saudi Arabia’s national shipping company Bahri said on Monday that one of its tankers was involved in a security incident in the Red Sea, hours after Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis claimed they had targeted the vessel in a missile attack.
The Houthis said they had struck the Saudi-linked oil tanker Amzan off the coast of Yanbu with a ballistic missile. Bahri confirmed that the tanker, which is associated with its fleet, “experienced a security incident in the Red Sea on August 24, 2026.”
Bahri said all crew members were safe and that no injuries had been reported.
“Bahri continues to maintain regular contact with the ship, as well as close coordination with relevant entities and parties within the maritime sector, while closely monitoring the situation’s developments,” it said. Bahri did not provide details on the nature of the incident, nor did it comment on the Houthi claim of responsibility.
The company said the safety of its personnel, protection of the marine environment and secure operation of the vessel remained its top priorities.
The Houthis have repeatedly said they will continue targeting vessels they consider linked to Saudi Arabia and its allies as part of their broader military campaign.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent lays out a fresh US sanctions campaign against Iran, warning that every country has a defined timeline to shut down activities with the Islamic Republic identified by Washington or else face action from the US Treasury.
“Around the globe, our objective is to sever every economic lifeline that sustains this tyrannical regime until Tehran stands alone,” Bessent says.
The US is expanding its Iran-related secondary sanctions threats to target five major sectors, as Washington seeks to impose an “Economic D-Day” on Tehran.
“Treasury has issued determinations against five critical sectors — digital assets, technology, gold, aviation, and shipping — that the Iranian regime uses to try to prop up its failing economy,” the department says in a statement as Bessent speaks.
Bessent says Washington will end access to the US dollar system for those laundering Iranian money.
“Any entity that facilitates money laundering on behalf of Iran will be removed from the US dollar system. The clock just started ticking,” Bessent tells reporters.
Bessent says US President Donald Trump is making phone calls to world leaders with specific requests to cease their interactions with Iran.
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu claimed in a phone interview with the pro-government Channel 14 that Iran tried to assassinate one of his two sons.
“Iran targeted one of my sons. Iran tried to kill, to murder one of my sons,” Netanyahu says, without providing further details.
“Therefore, the security they get is not a luxury,” he adds, seemingly defending an agreement reached with the Shin Bet to provide his sons, alongside his wife, Sara, with security protection for at least five years, even if he loses the upcoming election. Without that security, “they would succeed,” he says, referring to the would-be assassins.
It is unclear which of Netanyahu’s sons – Yair or Avner – was allegedly targeted, or when and how the purported assassination attempt took place.
Avner lives in Israel. Yair, the better-known of the two, has spent much of the past few years in Miami and is known for his hardline right-wing commentary.
A Channel 12 report says the alleged attempt took place at a time when Yair Netanyahu was not in Israel, but does not specify that Yair was the target.
The alleged assassination plot has been known to the Israeli security establishment for several months, the TV report says, but has been barred from publication by the military censor.
