Bessent wonders how Iran's delegation will return home, as US tightens sanctions targeting Tehran's airlines

Bessent wonders how Iran's delegation will return home, as US tightens sanctions targeting Tehran's airlines

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent questioned how Iran's delegation to the UN General Assembly in New York would return home amid Washington's sanctions targeting Tehran's airline operations.

"In terms of Operation Economic Outcast, we are squeezing the Iranians like they've never seen today," he said, adding that the campaign was affecting Iran's international air links.

Bessent claimed that over 80 to 90 percent of external flights from Iran had been shut down.

"We have made it very clear around the world, whether it's the financiers, the people who are doing business, the people who are supplying the Iranians, we know who you are, you know who you are," he further warned.

Bessent said the campaign could remain for weeks or months, with the US seeking one of three possible outcomes, including divisions within the Iranian leadership, an uprising in the country or an agreement under which Tehran would comply with its commitments.