US-Iran war latest: Iran’s currency drops to record low against dollar as US set to unveil ‘economic D-Day’ | CNN

President Donald Trump claims Iran is “completely collapsing,” with his administration expected to announce plans to tighten financial screws on Tehran. Follow for live updates.

• Economic pressure: Iran’s currency has dropped to a record low against the dollar, as the US moves to tighten the economic screws on Tehran, with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent expected to reveal plans for sanctions later today. US President Donald Trump insists Iran is “collapsing” — but while Iranians are suffering financially, the country is also familiar with economic pain.

• Differing views: There appears to be growing differences within Iran’s leadership on how to handle the conflict with the US. While President Masoud Pezeshkian said Iran “cannot continue with war forever,” others have continued to reject dialogue.

• Talks with regional leaders: Pakistan’s army chief is meeting with officials in Tehran today to discuss diplomatic efforts, according to Iranian state media. Oman’s foreign minister will visit Iran tomorrow for talks on the Strait of Hormuz, as Iran’s state-controlled Persian Gulf Strait Authority warned that ships violating transit rules in the critical waterway could face penalties.

Saudi Arabia’s national shipping company Bahri said on Monday that one of its tankers was involved in a security incident in the Red Sea, hours after Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis claimed they had targeted the vessel in a missile attack.

The Houthis said they had struck the Saudi-linked oil tanker Amzan off the coast of Yanbu with a ballistic missile.

Bahri confirmed that the tanker, which is associated with its fleet, “experienced a security incident in the Red Sea on August 24, 2026.”

Bahri said all crew members were safe and that no injuries had been reported.

“Bahri continues to maintain regular contact with the ship, as well as close coordination with relevant entities and parties within the maritime sector, while closely monitoring the situation’s developments,” it said.

Bahri did not provide details on the nature of the incident, nor did it comment on the Houthi claim of responsibility.

The company said the safety of its personnel, protection of the marine environment and secure operation of the vessel remained its top priorities.

The Houthis have repeatedly said they will continue targeting vessels they consider linked to Saudi Arabia and its allies as part of their broader military campaign.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s statement in a new op-ed that an “economic D-Day is coming for Iran” signals the latest a series of shifting strategies for the Trump administration in a war that hasn’t gone according to plan.

It’s also a huge gamble: He and the administration are betting that all-out economic pressure will ultimately force Iran to capitulate in a way that military strikes have not.

It could work — the Iranian economy is clearly reeling. Its currency just dropped to a record low against the US dollar.

But similar to the military clashes, Iran benefits from asymmetric warfare on the economic front, too. And the time required to bring Iran to heel might not necessarily be on Trump’s side.

While Iran cannot inflict the same kind of economic pain on the United States that that the US can on it, it has leverage: the 2026 midterm election. Continued high gas prices — currently averaging more than $4 per gallon, according to GasBuddy — filter down to many other aspects of the sputtering US economy. And, crucially, they also serve as an everyday reminder of the stagnant inflation that might be the GOP’s biggest electoral problem.

If gas prices don’t fall in the coming months, the American people won’t suffer like the Iranians will under tough economic sanctions. But American voters might well deliver a significant rebuke to Trump’s party that will leave him politically wounded for his final two years in office.

As of Monday, there are just 71 days until election day.

A narrow waterway that bypasses Iran and Oman, the Strait of Hormuz is the main route for shipping crude from oil-rich countries such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to the rest of the world.

The strait has remained a major flashpoint since the start of the conflict, after it was effectively closed by Tehran following airstrikes by the US and Israel on February 28.

Iran controls the strait’s northern side. About 20 million barrels of oil, or about one-fifth of daily global production, used to flow through the strait every day, according to the US Energy Information Administration, which calls the channel a “critical oil chokepoint.”

While some producers, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, have found alternative routes for their exports.

The strait also carries about one-fifth of global trade in liquefied natural gas, largely from Qatar.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned in an op-ed Sunday that an “economic D-Day is coming for Iran” and threatened countries that do business with Tehran.

“At dawn begins an economic D-Day — the single greatest financial offensive ever marshalled against an adversary,” he wrote in a Financial Times op-ed.

Bessent will hold a news conference later today on expected US sanctions on Iran.

The Trump administration’s threat could put China, India and even Germany in the firing line.

Iran exported to 147 countries in 2022, according to the most recent data from the World Bank. It imported goods from 114 countries that year.

China is by far Iran’s biggest trading partner, accounting for the bulk of Iran’s oil and non-oil exports. Iranian exports to China amounted to $22.4 billion in 2022, according to the World Bank. Imports from China stood at $15.6 billion.

Other Asian countries, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates are also significant export destinations for Iran. The country’s imports come mostly from the United Arab Emirates, China, Turkey, India and Germany, a 2024 World Bank report shows.

Last year, Germany exported goods worth €962 million ($1.1 billion) to Iran and imported goods worth €235 million ($275 million), according to the country’s statistics office. Imports increased marginally on the prior year, but both exports and imports have plummeted by around half or more since 2018, when the United States reinstated extensive sanctions on Iran.

Bilateral trade between India and Iran amounted to $1.1 billion between April and December 2025, according to India’s commerce ministry. Major Indian exports to Iran include basmati rice, tea, sugar, fresh fruits and pharmaceutical drugs.

CNN’s Aileen Graef contributed reporting.

US President Donald Trump insisted Iran is “COMPLETELY COLLAPSING” ahead of an announcement of economic measures that are expected to put further pressure on the country’s economy.

“IRAN IS COMPLETELY COLLAPSING!!!” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.

His post comes as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is set to announce a plan to ramp up pressure on the Iranian economy at a press conference on Monday afternoon.

In a Financial Times op-ed on Sunday, Bessent said that an “economic D-Day is coming for Iran” and threatened countries that do business with Tehran but provided few details about what he would announce.

Also on Monday, Iran’s ​currency dropped ⁠to a record ⁠low of more ‌than ⁠two million to the US dollar on the open market, according to websites that track the currency’s movement.

US President Donald Trump last week declared economic warfare against Iran, vowing to isolate the regime in a move he hopes will bring about what military force has so far failed to achieve — capitulation.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is scheduled to reveal further details of the administration’s plans later this afternoon.

The US is already targeting Iran’s oil sales, enforcing a blockade that is allowing much less Iranian oil to be exported to international buyers, including China. But sanctioning Chinese buyers or banks seems an unlikely move ahead of President Xi Jinping’s state visit to the US in September.

Kpler, which tracks ship movements, estimates that Tehran may have enough oil already outside the blockade to provide it with about four months’ worth of export revenues, but said oil income could drop to zero beyond that if Tehran’s exports are strangled.

Iran’s economy has already taken a major hit from the war and is grappling with rampant inflation, but it could take many months to destroy the economy completely.

Following decades of US sanctions, Iran has developed a “survival economy, which allows them to sustain more economic pain over time,” said Jorge Leon, head of geopolitical analysis at Rystad, a consultancy.

To really tighten the screws, Trump will need to tackle the clandestine trade and banking networks that enable Iran to evade sanctions and procure weapons. Doing so will require a crackdown on networks that operate most prominently through the United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, and Singapore, according to the US Treasury.

In a significant blow to the Iranian regime, the UAE announced last Wednesday that it had suspended all trade and financial transactions with Iran. Still, restricting all illicit activity – including, Trump said, “oil smuggling, swap limes, cash transfers, exchange houses, ship registries (and) front companies” – will require considerable coordination across multiple countries and won’t happen overnight.

CNN’s Stephen Collinson contributed to this report.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has warned in an op-ed that an “economic D-Day” is coming for Iran, stopping short of giving further details.

“Now we are entering the endgame. At dawn begins an economic D-Day — the single greatest financial offensive ever marshalled against an adversary,” he wrote in the Financial Times ahead of a scheduled news conference today.

The US has been imposing sanctions on Iran since 1979, after the US embassy in Tehran was seized following the Iranian Revolution, according to the US State Department.

A Congressional Research Service (CRS) report on US sanctions on Iran says they were used to “deter, constrain, and encourage change in the adversarial behavior of the Iranian regime.”

“US sanctions on Iran are arguably the most extensive and comprehensive set of sanctions that the United States maintains on any country,” the report says.

The financial penalties are wide-ranging, banning nearly all US trade with Iran, blocking Iranian government assets in the country and prohibiting foreign assistance and arms sales, the report outlines.

In 2013, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said that the US could sell food, medicine, and medical devices to Iran.

According to the CRS report, the US is also allowed to provide telecommunications equipment to Iranians to help them circumvent the Iranian regime’s attempts at cutting off internet access.

The US is expected to announce plans to ramp up sanctions on Iran after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent foreshadowed “the single greatest financial offensive ever marshalled against an adversary.”

He is scheduled to speak this afternoon.

If you’re just joining us, here are the latest regional developments.

Pakistan’s Field Marshal Asim Munir is due in Iran today, according to state media, citing Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei.

Oman’s Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr Al-Busaidi will also visit Tehran tomorrow to discuss the Strait of Hormuz and other developments in the region. The two countries have been in talks on new shipping routes through the waterway.

Iran’s ​currency — the rial — has dropped ⁠to a record ⁠low of more ‌than ⁠two million to the US dollar on the open market, according to websites that track the currency’s movement.

A tanker has been struck by unknown projectile 63 nautical miles west of Saudi Arabia’s port city of Yanbu, according to the UK’s maritime agency. All crew are safe and accounted for.

Iran has warned Bulgaria, a NATO member, against allowing its territory to be used for Israeli or American military action, saying it reserved the right to strike the source of any attack.

CNN’s Tim Lister, Nadeem Ebrahim, Sophia Saifi and Aida Karimi contributed to this post.

A tanker has been struck by unknown projectile 63 nautical miles west of Saudi Arabia’s port city of Yanbu, causing a fire on the vessel’s main deck, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) reported.

All crew are safe and accounted for and no environmental impact has been reported, UKMTO reported, adding that “vessels are advised to transit with caution and report any suspicious activity.”

Since the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, Saudi Arabia has rerouted much of its oil exports through Red Sea ports such as Yanbu.

Maritime intelligence group Marisks said the tanker was likely the Saudi-flagged crude oil tanker AMZAN, which was reportedly proceeding southbound through the Red Sea with its transmissions inactive at the time of the incident.

AMZAN is owned by Bahri, Saudi Arabia’s main shipping and logistics company, Marisks said.

While no group has claimed responsibility, Marisks assessed that Houthi involvement was the leading conclusion.

Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels have targeted Saudi shipping in the Red Sea for several weeks, threatening an oil-export route that has become increasingly important since the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Yanbu lies about 900 kilometers (560 miles) from the nearest part of Yemen.

The attacked tanker was approximately 1,000 kilometers from Yemeni territory.

Ambrey, a maritime security company, reported the incident on Monday, saying that following the distress alert, “the Egyptian Navy was reported to have responded and was transiting to the area of interest to conduct a rescue operation.”

Ambrey said that at the time of the attack, the vessel was not transmitting its identification signal.

Iran’s ​currency – the rial – has dropped ⁠to a record ⁠low of more ‌than ⁠two million to the US dollar on the open market, according to websites that track the currency’s movement.

The free market rate is different from the official rate, which values the rial 29% higher against the US dollar.

The governor of Iran’s Central Bank sought to reassure businesses Monday that it has sufficient foreign currency to facilitate trade.

Abdolnaser Hemmati told the Entrepreneurs’ Association the bank would provide $20 billion in foreign currency for the industrial sector by the end of the year.”

“We have no problem supplying foreign currency, and we can provide entrepreneurs with as much foreign-currency cash as they require,” Hemmati said, according to the semi-official news agency Fars.

“We guarantee that the foreign currency needed for essential goods and medicines will be provided,” he said.

The rial’s devaluation will have the effect of making imports more expensive and Iranian exports cheaper.

The decline in the rial comes as the US Treasury plans a new raft of sanctions against Iran, and amid a worsening economic crisis in Iran.

The International Monetary Fund expects the Iranian economy to contract by more than 5% this year, while inflation for food exceeds 100% and unemployment rises.

Iran warned NATO member Bulgaria on Monday against allowing its territory to be used for Israeli or American military action against the Islamic Republic, saying it reserved the right to strike the source of any attack.

“It was previously announced – and reports have also confirmed – that several refueling aircraft have left Bulgarian territory,” he said. “As many Bulgarian citizens and politicians themselves have acknowledged, this action is contrary to international law and amounts to support for the military aggression by the United States and the Israeli regime against Iran.”

Iran has previously warned the Balkan nation, which is also a member of the European Union, against allowing the US to make use of its airbases in the war. Last month, Bulgaria’s parliamentary Defense Committee approved a government proposal to allow the temporary deployment of US aerial refueling tanker aircraft and American military personnel at Bezmer Air Base, a move that drew a sharp warning from Iran against facilitating US military operations.

At the time, Baghaei said any participation in the planning or execution of such operations would amount to complicity in “the crime of aggression and war crimes.” He urged Bulgaria’s full parliament to reject the deployment.

Baghaei added on Monday that Iran has been “playing chess for a long time,” and in recent years, “we’ve also learned to play poker,” he said, referring to Tehran’s evolving war strategy. US President Donald Trump told Fox News this month that Iranians are “good poker players, but they’re dying.”

The United States is likely to enforce its sanctions on Iran more strictly instead of expanding them, and put pressure on Tehran’s oil ecosystem in its “economic D-Day” measures, a former Treasury official told CNN on Monday.

The US could also target Iran’s oil in order to cut off an economic lifeline, he said.

Beijing buys roughly 90% of Iranian crude exports, according to a fact sheet by a US Congress commission. China doesn’t acknowledge importing Iranian crude in its customs data.

“There will be some pressure on small, medium-sized teapot refineries in China who are purchasing Iranian oil. That will put more pressure on Iran’s revenue generation, and also the banks and exchange houses that allow the Iranian regime to repatriate some of those revenue and get access to foreign currency,” said Maleki.

The Treasury Department has sanctioned such independent Chinese refineries, but in May, Beijing ordered its companies to ignore the restrictions.

Trita Parsi, executive vice president of Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, said Iran is not likely to capitulate even with the latest economic measures. The US has been sanctioning Iran since 1979.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is set to unveil details of the economic pressure campaign in a news conference on Monday. In a Financial Times op-ed published a day earlier, he wrote “we are entering the endgame.”

Iran, already drained by years of sanctions and a brutal military onslaught from the United States and Israel, now faces another test as President Donald Trump moves to further tighten the economic screws on the Islamic Republic.

The US is preparing measures, to be revealed at a news conference later on Monday, of what Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent promises to be “the toughest sanctions in history” amid deadlock on talks to end the six-month war and as Iran continues inflicting global economic pain by disrupting shipping through the crucial Strait of Hormuz.

By the admission of its own top officials, Iranians are suffering.

“We are apologetic that these problems exist, as we find ourselves in a full-scale economic, military, and security war,” Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said, according to state media.

Read more: Trump is trying to tighten the screws on an Iran numb to economic pain

Oman’s Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr Al-Busaidi will visit Tehran on Tuesday to discuss the Strait of Hormuz and other developments in the region.

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei confirmed the upcoming visit and discussions about the vital waterway, the country’s Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported Monday.

Both Iran and Oman have coastlines along the vital strait. The two countries have been in talks on new shipping routes through the waterway.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to attack Oman, a US ally and negotiator in the conflict.

Control over the Strait of Hormuz has become a focal point in the war. Over the past several months, both Iran and the United States have claimed the upper hand.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned in a Financial Times op-ed Sunday that an “economic D-Day is coming for Iran” and threatened countries that do business with Tehran. His warning echoes US President Donald Trump’s economic threat against Iran last week. Bessent is expected to announce details at a news conference on Monday.

The economic effects of the war are reverberating in the US. Gas prices remain high, and a Federal Reserve official said Sunday that the US’s inflation target may remain out of reach until the war ends.

Meanwhile in Iran, officials’ responses to the threats from the US appear to show some differences within its leadership over how to proceed with the war.

Catch up on the news from the weekend:

Iran pushes back: Iran’s security chief vowed Sunday to “neutralize the economic war” with the US and threatened to halt oil flow out of the Strait of Hormuz, Iran’s state-affiliated Press TV reported. The Supreme National Security Council head Mohsen Rezaei also warned neighbors that cooperation with the US will prompt Iran to “target their interests.”

Different perspective: However, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Sunday that the country “cannot continue with war forever,” suggesting differences within the Tehran leadership.

Shipping updates: Iran warned on Sunday that vessels violating its transit rules in the Strait of Hormuz could face penalties including detention or confiscation. Iran is allowing some Iraqi oil tankers to pass through the strait, Reuters reported Saturday, citing the Iranian state-run Islamic Republic News Agency, but shipping traffic through the strait remains low.

Iran-Pakistan meeting: Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, will visit Tehran on Monday to hold talks with senior Iranian officials, Iranian state-run media reported.

CNN’s Tim Lister, Aida Karimi, Xiaoqian Lin, Lisa Wong and Auzinea Bacon contributed reporting.

US President Donald Trump’s threat of an “economic D-Day” against Iran is unlikely to bend the country to his will without China joining in. But Trump has little leverage over China to make that happen.

Last week, the American president vowed “tremendous economic consequences” against countries that continue to do business with Tehran. And on Sunday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent doubled down on Trump’s warnings, promising the “single greatest financial offensive ever marshalled against an adversary” in a Financial Times op-ed published a day before he’s expected to unveil details on Washington’s pressure campaign.

Beijing buys roughly 90% of Iranian crude exports, according to a fact sheet by a US Congress commission. China doesn’t acknowledge importing Iranian crude in its customs data.

That’s unlikely to change now, especially as China sees how unpopular the ongoing conflict has been within the US and abroad, and as Chinese leader Xi Jinping is set to visit the United States next month.

After a tumultuous year of US-China relations triggered by his renewed tariff offensive, Trump has every reason to prevent tensions between the world’s two largest economies from flaring up again. His May visit to Beijing has calmed the waters for now.

In response to Washington’s economic pressure campaign against Iran, Lin Jian, China’s foreign ministry spokesperson, said that “sanctions and pressure tactics are not the solution.”

“China calls on parties to act responsibly and stick to the political and diplomatic approach,” he reiterated on Friday.

Trump also possesses increasingly limited economic options he could leverage against China. The US Treasury Department has sanctioned independent Chinese refineries that have been importing Iranian crude, but in May, Beijing ordered its companies to ignore those restrictions.

Any major US moves against China could also risk provoking countermeasures from Beijing. China holds a trump card in rare earths — critical minerals necessary for making many items, from smartphones to electric vehicles and fighter jets. With China processing about 90% of the world’s supply, Trump must tread carefully while Western nations attempt to build alternative supply chains.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned in an op-ed Sunday that an “economic D-Day is coming for Iran” and threatened countries that do business with Tehran but gave little detail.

“Now we are entering the endgame. At dawn begins an economic D-Day — the single greatest financial offensive ever marshalled against an adversary,” he wrote in a Financial Times op-ed, a day ahead of a planned news conference.

CNN has reached out to the Treasury Department to ask for more details. Bessent is set to hold a news conference Monday at 1 p.m.

The secretary’s op-ed echoes remarks by President Donald Trump, who last week also threatened an “economic D-Day” against Iran, vowing to impose “tremendous economic consequences” on countries that do business with Tehran. The US is seeking to ratchet up the economic pressure to get Tehran to return to the negotiating table.

“Iran’s enablers purchase and transport its petroleum,” Bessent wrote in the Financial Times, adding, “They turn a blind eye to seaborne fuel transfers and the illicit use of their banks, all while concealing the extent of their complicity.”

“In short, these countries calculate appeasement of the regime to be the safer course. But they would do well to consider the consequences of sustaining it,” he wrote.

Bessent also warned that if Iran responded militarily to economic action by the United States, Trump would “respond swiftly and decisively.”

This post has been updated to indicate the revised timing for Bessent’s press conference.

Iran warned on Sunday that vessels accused of violating its transit rules in the Strait of Hormuz could face penalties including detention or confiscation, signaling potential risks for shipping through one of the world’s most strategically important waterways.

In a series of posts on X, Iran’s state-controlled Persian Gulf Strait Authority (PGSA) said vessels that violate what it described as Iranian arrangements governing transit through the Strait of Hormuz could face “fines, seizure, or confiscation” during future passages.

The authority urged cargo owners shipping to or from the Persian Gulf to review what it called a “Non-Compliant Vessels” list before chartering ships in order to avoid potential issues.

There seems to be growing debate within the Iranian leadership on how to handle the conflict with the United States, with some implying Tehran should now negotiate from a position of strength before its economic crisis worsens, while hardliners in the security apparatus continuing to reject dialogue.

A recap of what Iranian officials have said recently:

President Masoud Pezeshkian

Iran “cannot continue with war forever,” Pezeshkian said on Sunday. He defended the memorandum of understanding that Iran reached with the US in June, despite the purported misgivings of Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei.

The Iranian president has also frequently warned of the economic and social consequences of the conflict.

Security chief Mohsen Rezaei

Rezaei vowed to “neutralize the economic war.” He also threatened to shut down all shipping traffic if any of Iran’s neighboring countries enter US President Donald Trump’s economic war.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei

Baghaei pushed back on Trump’s threat last week of an “economic D-Day,” calling it “a recipe for an abysmal return to full-scale classic colonialism.”

The Iranian Foreign Ministry warned that those who order or implement the levies “are liable to prosecution and punishment,” reported state media IRIB.

Hossein Taeb, close ally of Iran’s supreme leader

Taeb said Trump’s current rhetoric stems from “desperation” as he vowed Tehran “will not submit” to the US, Iranian semi-official media reported on Saturday.

Taeb also said Iran would not reopen the critical Strait of Hormuz unless “our conditions are fulfilled.”

CNN’s Aida Karimi, Tim Lister, Billy Stockwell, Valey Arya and Laura Sharman contributed reporting.