Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned on Wednesday that the United States is preparing to ramp up economic pain on Iran, saying the Republican administration is preparing action that will be the “financial equivalent” of the bombing campaign.
Watch in our video player above.
Bessent said the administration has “told companies, we have told countries that if you are buying Iranian oil, that if Iranian money is sitting in your banks, we are now willing to apply secondary sanctions, which is a very stern measure. And the Iranians should know that this is going to be the financial equivalent of what we saw in the kinetic activities.”
WATCH: Talk of war dominates daily life in Tehran as ceasefire deadline nears
The warning comes the day after Treasury Department sent a letter to financial institutions in China, Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman, threatening to levy secondary sanctions for doing business with Iran.
Bessent ‘optimistic’ that gasoline prices going back to $3 a gallon this summer
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters that he believes gasoline prices will be closer to $3 gallon this summer, saying pumping oil can resume within a week of the Strait of Hormuz opening.
“I’m optimistic that sometime between June 20th and September 20th that we can have $3 gas again,” said Bessent.
Gas prices are averaging $4.11 a gallon, up from $3.17 a year ago, according to AAA.
Bessent says Americans can choose if they want to use their tax refunds to buy increasingly pricey gasoline
Asked if the tax refunds would go toward gasoline averaging more than $4 a gallon, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the public is free to spend its money however it wants.
“Americans have more money. They can decide how they want to spend it,” Bessent said.
Higher prices at the pump because of the Iran War has created the risk that President Donald Trump’s tax cuts will offset the cost of fueling up autos to go to work and run errands, instead of boosting spending in ways that could help overall economic growth.
White House says talks with Iran are ongoing
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the U.S. had not “formally requested an extension of the ceasefire” with Iran.
The ceasefire announced on April 7 is currently slated to expire next Tuesday.
“At this moment, we remain very much engaged, in these negotiations, in these talks,” Leavitt said, adding that there are “discussions” about more talks being held unperson “but nothing is official until you hear it from us here at the White House.”
She said that the possible next rounds of talks “would very likely” be in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad as they were previously.
