U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has described a new American pressure campaign on Iran as an “economic D-Day,” calling it the largest financial offensive ever organized against an adversary. In remarks that cut off after he said the endgame had begun, Bessent claimed President Donald Trump had dismantled Iran’s military capabilities, destroyed nearly 100% of its military factories and buried its nuclear program, adding that an economic D-Day would begin at dawn. A separate formal sanctions rollout was scheduled for a 2 p.m. Eastern press conference on August 24. The campaign targets Iranian oil purchases and third-country facilitation through exchange houses, free-trade zones, shipping and banking, with states and firms warned they could face U.S. sanctions and exclusion from the international financial system. Iran has threatened to halt every oil export through the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf, while Tehran’s parliament has advanced a toll scheme for passage. Seven-day average flows through the strait have fallen from more than 20 million barrels a day to roughly 8 million, according to U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright. Internal debate over diplomacy has widened as President Masoud Pezeshkian urges an exit from a “neither war nor peace” stalemate. Analysts identify Chinese independent “teapot” refineries, which buy most Iranian seaborne crude, as a major potential target, while Brent settled at $94.39 and WTI at $87.06, both up more than 5% on the week amid supply-disruption risks.