The U.S. Treasury Department is launching what Secretary Scott Bessent described Monday as an unprecedented economic campaign against Iran, targeting the country’s financial lifelines and warning global shipping companies, banks and other companies that they risk American sanctions if they continue doing business with Tehran.

Speaking Monday, Bessent said the Treasury had begun “Operation Economic Outcast,” a campaign designed to sever Iran’s economic connections worldwide and prevent the regime from generating revenue that supports its military and other activities.

The move is a pivot in the near-six-month war in Iran after negotiations and a framework deal between the countries have failed to end the conflict. As part of any resolution to the war, the U.S. is seeking to revive traffic in the Strait of Hormuz back to pre-conflict transit levels.

The economic operation expands the categories for secondary sanctions on entities and countries that transact with the Iranian regime across five sectors: digital assets, technology, gold, aviation and shipping.

During the press conference, Bessent said every country has a defined timeline to shut down economic ties with the Islamic republic. He declined to specify the countries impacted or provide a specific deadline but said the U.S. “does not have infinite patience.”

“We are giving everyone the opportunity to remedy bad behavior,” said Bessent. “We believe that it is important to level-set and give people a cure period, but they should know that this will move very quickly and that we are serious.”

On Monday, the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned more than 60 new entities, individuals and vessels accused of helping Iran procure nuclear and missile technology, conduct cyber operations and generate oil revenue.

Forty-eight business entities were named in the sanctions, with more than 20 of them related to shipping, logistics or maritime functions. Six vessels were named in the OFAC sanctions.

The shipping industry is likely to face scrutiny as the administration moves to choke off Iran’s ability to sell and transport oil.

“Treasury has mapped every node, every facilitator and every network that Iran has used to smuggle oil and evade sanctions,” Bessent said, adding that the department was pursuing a “zero leakage approach” to prevent the regime from rebuilding its capacity.

The U.S. has constricted Iran’s ability to move oil and other exports by sea, imposing a naval blockade against the country’s ports and coastline since April.

According to U.S. Central Command Monday, 71 commercial ships have been redirected as part of the blockade. Seven of those ships were redirected in the past week.

The economic sanctions further extend the military blockade well beyond Iran’s borders. Bessent warned countries and companies that facilitate Iranian trade that they can no longer operate in what he called the “gray spaces” of the conflict.

Iranian enablers, he said, purchase and transport oil, move money through exchange houses and free trade zones, provide aviation services and registries, facilitate seaborne fuel transfers and allow Iranian transactions to pass through their banks.

President Donald Trump is calling foreign leaders directly, while Treasury and State Department officials are following up with governments and entities to lay out U.S. expectations.

“If people do not want to meet our expectations, then they should expect that they will leave the dollar system,” Bessent said.

The move comes weeks before China’s President, Xi Jinping, is expected to visit Trump in Washington in late September.

“No one is above U.S. sanctions,” Bessent said when asked specifically about Chinese shipping companies and banks. “If they facilitate transactions and are part of the ecosystem that turns Iranian oil into money into repression, they will be targeted. We find that the best way to engage with countries is through quiet diplomacy, and we are level-setting with every country to tell them our expectations. We know who they are. They know who they are.”

China, which imported more than 80 percent of Iran’s oil before the war began, publicly criticized the sanctions ahead of Bessent’s press conference.

“They will only exacerbate tensions and escalate the situation, which is in no one’s interest,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said early Monday.

Based on various media reports last week, the U.A.E. appears to be among the first countries responding to the administration’s pressure campaign. Bessent said recent actions by the UAE were “likely causal” and predicted other countries would follow.