Erin Browne, Under Secretary for International Affairs at the Treasury Department, speaks with FOX Business about the impact of the Operation Economic Outcast sanctions campaign against the Iranian regime.
A senior Treasury Department official told FOX Business she believes “the Iranians know the United States is winning” as the Operation Economic Outcast sanctions campaign ramps up pressure against Tehran.
Undersecretary for International Affairs Erin Browne made the remarks this week as Iran’s official currency plunged to a record low with an exchange rate of more than 2.5 million rials to the U.S. dollar.
“I think the Iranians know that the United States is winning in terms of economic isolation and economic exclusion against Iran. And we saw the rial fall to its lowest levels. Just on Tuesday it hit an all-time low,” Browne said.
“So we see the economic damage that this conflict is imposing on Iran. And the United States will continue and will be absolutely relentless in ensuring that it is completely isolated from the global financial system for as long as this conflict continues,” she added.
US HITS IRANIAN AIRLINES WITH “WIDE SANCTIONS” UNDER OPERATION ECONOMIC OUTCAST
Iranian missiles are displayed next to a banner with a photo of Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei on a street in Tehran, Iran, September 27, 2026. (Majid Asgaripour/WANA/Reuters / Reuters)
When the Treasury Department launched Operation Economic Outcast against Iran on August 24, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, in a press release, described it as an “economic attack on Iran’s financial connections around the world.”
“Teams from the Treasury, State, and War Departments are engaging their counterparts around the world to make it clear that the United States expects immediate action. Each country will be given a defined timeline to end the Iran-related activities we have identified. If they do not act, Treasury will act,” the department said at the time.
“Any entity that facilitates money laundering or sanctions evasion on behalf of Iran risks being cut off from the U.S. financial system,” he added, noting that the campaign “also expands secondary sanctions exposure for those who continue to do business with the Iranian regime and will accelerate the pace of U.S. sanctions enforcement.”
This aggressive strategy, described as an “economic D-day,” targets critical sectors such as Iranian digital assets, technology, gold, aviation and shipping, with the aim of eliminating revenue streams that fund international terrorism, Bessent said.
“So over the last month, Operation Economic Outcast has been a complete success,” Browne told FOX Business. “Under the leadership of President Trump, the United States is systematically ending all access of Iran to the global financial system. So, not only are we cutting them off from the financial system, but we are also cutting them off militarily and from an industrial sector perspective, so they will no longer have access to funds in the future.”
TREASURY’S ‘ECONOMIC D-DAY’ AGAINST IRAN COULD CONCERN REGIME IN A SITUATION IT’S ‘MOST FEARED’, EXPERTS SAY
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, left, and Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei. (Vincent Alban/Reuters; Majid Khahi/ISNA/WANA/Reuters / Reuters)
“We have moved from maximum pressure to absolute isolation, and it has been very effective. Even over the last week, we have taken a number of steps as a government to cut off Iran on all three fronts,” she added. “So on the financial side, we have continued to put pressure on them to stop any type of financing that they are doing globally, including cutting them off from all financial networks.
“We have also taken action on the military side, as you have seen in recent weeks. In fact, this week we have sanctioned 11 other individuals in order to end any type of military supply to the Iranian army. And then also, from an industrial point of view, we have continued to destroy their industrial framework and their logistical framework so that they are cut off from all logistical transport, including their aviation sector.”
Bessent announced this week on X that “Iran loaded ZERO crude oil onto tankers in September” as the Trump administration “cuts off the Iranian regime’s most critical source of revenue.”
Last week, as part of this campaign, the Treasury Department also said it had sanctioned the “A7 network, a shadow banking network with ties to Russia used by the Iranian regime to evade sanctions.”
“The A7 Network was created and supported by individuals sanctioned by the United States in order to evade sanctions. It developed a global network of subagents, companies specifically designed to disguise payments related to sanctioned industries and individuals as ordinary commercial activity,” the department said Thursday. “The A7 network has been exploited by Iran, including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.”
President Donald Trump speaks during a rally at the Choctaw Event Center in Durant, Oklahoma, Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026. The Trump administration launched Operation Epic Fury against Iran in February. (Reuters/Reuters)
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The day before, Treasury said it was “targeting some of the remaining significant elements of Iran’s failing industrial infrastructure, including its railway and automobile conglomerates.”
Louis Casiano of FOX Business contributed to this report.
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