• Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is urging European, Middle Eastern, and Asian allies to dismantle Iran's shadow banking infrastructure, targeting financiers, closing bank branches, and exposing shell companies.
  • The U.S. has imposed fresh sanctions on 35 entities and individuals linked to Iran's shadow-banking network, which moves billions through front companies and informal value-transfer systems.
  • Bessent is also reviewing U.S. sanctions lists to sharpen enforcement against advanced evasion and terrorist financing, while removing outdated designations.

The U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is pressing for a coordinated international crackdown on Iran's extraterritorial financial networks, according to people familiar with the matter. In recent weeks, Bessent has lobbied G7 and European partners to tighten enforcement, including targeting financiers, closing Iranian-linked bank branches, and tracking crypto-based and maritime channels used to evade sanctions. He has also called on Middle East and Asian countries to dismantle Iran's shadow banking system, which he says enables the regime to launder oil revenues and fund terrorist proxies.

The Treasury's latest action, announced this week, sanctions 35 entities and individuals that it says form part of Iran's shadow-banking architecture, moving tens of billions of dollars through front companies, exchange houses, and informal value-transfer networks. The designations include Iranian security officials and financial intermediaries accused of both violent crackdowns on protests and money laundering from oil exports. "We are focused on disrupting the networks that allow Iran to bypass our sanctions and continue its destabilizing activities," a Treasury official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Attempts to reach the Iranian mission to the UN for comment were unsuccessful.

This push comes amid a broader strategy of financial warfare by the Trump administration, which has already used its "Operation Economic Fury" framework to target Iran's shadow fleet of tankers, weapons-procurement routes, and Chinese "teapot" refineries that process Iranian crude. Bessent said he expects European partners to intensify sanctions, while the Treasury is reviewing its designation lists to better focus on advanced evasion techniques and remove outdated labels that cause unintended effects on innocent third parties. "The goal is to make evasion as costly and difficult as possible," said the official.

Analysts say the crackdown could tighten global trade and shipping finance for firms that unknowingly interact with Iranian-linked entities, while also pressuring regional oil markets if Iran's shadow fleet faces more disruption. In the Gulf and Southeast Asia, local exchange houses and traders that serve Iranian clients may face increased compliance burdens or closure. Some European policymakers have expressed concern about collateral damage to their exports and energy-market stability, but Bessent has stressed that precision-targeted lists are necessary to avoid harming ordinary Iranians. The move follows France, Germany, and the UK triggering the process to restore all UN Security Council sanctions on Iran in August 2025.

Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated the number of sanctions designations. The Treasury has sanctioned 35 entities and individuals, not 30.