(Oct. 29, 2026 / JNS)
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC on Wednesday that Iran is unable to pay its troops or obtain dollars, while funding for its proxies, including the Houthis, Hamas and Hezbollah, is being cut off.
“They’re not able to pay their troops. Importantly, they’re not able to get dollars,” he said. “So they’re not able to replenish.”
“We have internal estimates that show that the economy from March to March, when the blockade started or the conflict started, March to March, the economy may contract by as much as 25 percent,” he said, meaning March 2026 to March 2027.
He described “Operation Economic Outcast” as “the toughest operation ever to isolate a single economy in the history of the world.”
