I listened to every word Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent spoke in announcing Operation Economic Outcast this week, and it scared the hell out of me. It was a promised economic D-Day.
Friday was D-Day.
First up: The Trump administration attacked the Ayatollah's bank.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE), which was said to have begun to distance itself from Iran even before the announcement on Friday, was ordered to shutter the Emirates' branches of Egypt's Banque Misr. The U.S. cut off the UAE's branches of Egypt's second-largest bank from its entire banking system.
A website called "Money Control" reported that this UAE branch was the chief money launderer for the Ayatollah.
According to Treasury estimates, Banque Misr UAE processed approximately $1.8 billion between January 2024 and June 2026 in transactions involving 103 companies that the department said were potentially part of Iranian shadow-banking networks.
Treasury also alleged that some of the bank’s customers included apparent front companies used by Iran’s Ministry of Defense and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to evade US sanctions.
The department further alleged that some of the entities were used to launder money on behalf of Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei.
Indeed, this request — demand — wasn't a surprise to Abu Dhabi or Egypt. They'd been told in advance. And why no one took the threat seriously was a chance they shouldn't have taken. One of the more chilling parts of Bessent's announcement was when he demanded other countries shut down all branches of the Iran-based Bank Melli. "Every branch of [Iran-based] Bank Melli must be shuttered and dark," as the first step, he intoned.
"For decades, this regime has drawn strength from a calculus that regards Iranian retaliation as certain and American enforcement as negotiable," Bessent said. But not anymore.
Every single country giving Iran aid and comfort was given a timeline to cut off its lifelines to the revolutionary death cult regime. "If they do not take action, we will do so unilaterally through treasury authorities... And let me be clear: any entity that facilitates money laundering on behalf of Iran will be removed from the U.S. dollar system," he threatened.
And then he did it. This move on Friday cut off $1.8 billion in "transactions involving companies potentially linked to Iranian shadow banking networks" using the UAE branch of the Egyptian bank. Bessent promised this week that he would "sever every economic life line...until Tehran stands alone."
And to those who enable Tehran, do not discount the cost of testing Washington's resolve, no nation should expect to enjoy the rewards of our system while helping those who seek to destroy it. It is now a time for world leaders to make a decision between prosperity and isolation, peace and terror. America and Iran.
I asked the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies' Edmund Fitton Brown about the impact of Economic Outcast, and he said it was a welcome move that may finally bring down the regime.
The former diplomat for the UK, who has also worked on the United Nations Security Council sanctions measures, said on the Adult in the Room Podcast that this may take a year to do, but it's a long time coming: "Finally after so many years when people have imposed sanctions but turned a blind eye at violations and not imposed secondary sanctions on people who are helping basically to provide lifeline to the sanctioned entity or or country."
Between that and the Naval blockade, Iran may be on the ropes.
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