Scott Bessent

Scott Bessent is the 60th US Secretary of the Treasury, confirmed by the Senate in January 2025. A veteran macro investor, he spent nearly two decades at George Soros's hedge fund before founding Key Square Group in 2015. His appointment signalled that Trump's second term would treat fiscal and sanctions policy as active geopolitical instruments rather than passive regulatory tools.

Bessent has driven a sustained sequence of Iran sanctions actions since hostilities began on 28 February 2026. He told CNBC the administration was deliberately letting Iranian tankers through the Strait of Hormuz to supply global markets, predicting oil would fall 'much lower' than $80. That accommodation posture reversed on 15 April 2026, when he confirmed OFAC General Licence U would not be renewed and described secondary sanctions on Iranian oil buyers as 'the financial equivalent of the US military's bombing campaign'; markets did not reprice, and Brent fell on the announcement.

On 24 April 2026, Bessent attached explicit nuclear-programme language to the Hengli Petrochemical sanctions action, the first recorded instance of that framing in any 2026 shadow-fleet designation. On 1 May 2026, Bessent's OFAC issued General Licence W, designated three Iranian foreign exchange houses and the Panama-flagged tanker NEW FUSION, and published a sanctions alert naming IRCS, Bonyad Mostazafan, and Iranian embassy accounts as prohibited Hormuz toll payment channels. He stated OFAC would 'relentlessly target the regime's ability to generate, move, and repatriate funds'.

On 28 May 2026, Bessent warned Oman that Washington would 'aggressively target any actors involved, directly or indirectly, in facilitating tolls for the Strait', after Iranian state media reported Tehran and Muscat were negotiating a joint toll-collection mechanism. Oman, Washington's Iran backchannel since 1981, denied any toll plan and backed down. Separately, OFAC designated Iran's Persian Gulf Strait Authority under EO 13224 at the same moment US and Iranian negotiators reached a tentative MOU to reopen the strait, with the sanction carrying legal force and the MOU none.

On 18 June 2026, OFAC issued the sb0535 Hezbollah-network designation, targeting Lebanese political figures Sleiman Frangieh and Mahmoud Qamati alongside the Alaa Hamieh financial network spanning Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Oman. Bessent framed the action as part of a Lebanon peace-process track, stating: 'Hezbollah must disarm for Lebanon to achieve a secure and prosperous future.' On 22 June, OFAC issued General Licence X, the first Iran oil-sanctions relief instrument of the conflict, authorising Iranian crude, petrochemical, and petroleum-product transactions through 21 August 2026.

On 24 June 2026, Bessent stated that the disputed $12 billion in frozen Iranian funds would be held in a US-controlled escrow account in Qatar, accessible only for purchases of American food and medical exports including corn, wheat, and soybeans. Iranian officials rejected the terms, saying purchase decisions would depend on price and quality rather than US direction. The Foundation for Defense of Democracies had noted GL X carries no escrow, cap, or reporting requirement on live oil revenue; the Qatar escrow applies only to the contested frozen cash, while Iran's oil income under GL X flows unconstrained.

Bessent described 30-day sanctions waivers covering 124 million barrels of Russian crude as 'narrowly tailored' while acknowledging Russian territorial gains were 'an inevitability'. European partners including Germany's Chancellor Merz called the Russian oil waivers outright wrong. On 16 April 2026 Bessent confirmed General License 134A would not be renewed, closing a channel worth approximately $150 million per day.

Bessent authorised General License 134B on 18 April 2026, extending Russian seaborne-oil cover to Cuba through 16 May 2026 and publicly justifying it on grounds the oil was already in transit. On 7 May OFAC issued Cuba General License 1 as a savings clause under newly numbered Executive Order 14404, and added Ania Guillermina Lastres Morera to the SDN list under the [Cuba-EO] tag, the first individual designation under EO 14404 signed under Bessent's Treasury authority.

On 8 April 2026, Bessent co-convened an emergency meeting at Treasury headquarters with Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, summoning the CEOs of Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Goldman Sachs to discuss a frontier AI model's systemic risk profile, the first recorded instance of the Fed and Treasury convening Wall Street leadership over an AI model's capabilities.