President Donald Trump announced this week that the US would be imposing an "unprecedented" level of economic warfare and isolation on Iran, aiming to force its leadership to cave to demands to end its nuclear program and fully reopen the crucial Strait of Hormuz to oil and natural gas tankers.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says he will hold a press conference on Monday "to talk about exactly what we're going to do".
The increasingly unpopular war is still unresolved, just months before pivotal midterm elections that will decide whether the Republican Party keeps control of Congress.
The president wants to refocus on bringing Iran to its knees through an accelerated sanctions campaign against one of the most economically penalised countries in the world.
In an interview on CNBC, Bessent offered a glimpse of what may be ahead, threatening secondary sanctions on nations and companies that conduct business with Iran.
"If you insist on doing business with them, then the US Treasury and US government will put its full might and force against you," Bessent said. "It's time for our allies and the rest of the world to make a decision."
China and India are major buyers of Iranian oil.
Despite decades of US sanctions that have not made Iran bow to American demands, the Trump administration is arguing that it's only a matter of time before they succeed.
Richard Goldberg, who coordinated efforts to put diplomatic pressure on Iran in Trump's first term, said the consequences of US strikes on Iran's nuclear sites last year, the war this year and the American naval blockade on Iranian ports have created the perfect storm for capitulation — one that didn't previously exist.
He said the decision this week by the United Arab Emirates — once one of Tehran's most important trading partners — to suspend trade with Iran over an alleged missile attack will only further isolate the government.
With nearly all of Iran's energy, financial and transportation sectors already covered by US sanctions, Trump's aim appears to be to starve the country of any remaining income it may still be receiving.
But as Trump and his allies discovered during his first administration, it can be difficult to enforce secondary sanctions without harming US interests and provoking reciprocal measures. There were numerous instances of the administration granting sanctions waivers to countries, particularly those that rely on Iranian oil for their energy needs.
In a post on X, Esmail Baghaei, spokesman for Iran's Foreign Ministry, wrote that Washington's pattern of retreating to sanctions when it doesn't want to pursue diplomacy has proven to be futile.
"Iran has demonstrated over decades that it will not be strangled by these exhausted refrains," he said. "The real risk is that American politicians, clinging to this bad habit, will instead strangle their own remaining chances of a less humiliating exit from a crisis of their own making."
Ali Vaez, Iran director at the International Crisis Group, said the Trump administration's decision to take its own "maximum pressure" policy to new heights with military action seems to ignore years of US foreign policy lessons that show Iran does not respond well to pressure.
If anything, he says, the latest economic campaign has only "hardened Iran's position."
"I think (Trump's) blind spot is the fact that the only thing that the Iranian regime views as more dangerous than suffering from US sanctions is surrendering to US terms," Vaez said.
