US is 'entering the ENDGAME' with Iran as financials TARGETED

Starting this hour in the Middle East, the Trump administration is expected to. roll out what Treasury Secretary Scott. Bestin calls the toughest sanctions in. history against Iran. >> Chief foreign correspondent Trey Yinx. joins us live from Tel Aviv with the. latest. Hey Trey. >> Yeah. Hey guys, good morning. The United. States is set to unleash new economic. sanctions against Iran to pressure the. regime in Thran. US Treasury Secretary. Scott Bessant wrote on Sunday, "President Donald Trump and the. overwhelming might of our military have.

significantly dismantled Iran's military. capabilities and weakened its nuclear. program. Now we are entering the. endgame. At dawn begins an economic. D-Day, the single greatest financial. offensive ever marshaled against an. adversary. The economic pressure comes. as the Iranian realal crossed 2 million. to1 US dollar, a historic low for the. country's currency. The head of Iran's. Supreme National Security Council. responded on X, saying, "If the economic. war continues, not a single drop of oil. will be exported, neither through the.

straight of Hormuz nor anywhere in the. Persian Gulf. Iran will regard any. country's participation in or support. for America's economic war against the. Iranian people as an act of war. Despite. this statement, reports do indicate that. crossings through the Straight of Hormuz. are up 400% over the last two weeks. The. United States has overseen vessels out. of the Persian Gulf through a safer. southern passage. The passage does allow. for millions of barrels of crude oil to. be exported each day. Still, the. Iranians remain defiant.

>> The fact that the United States has once. again moved from military threats, saying that it will strike and so on to. reviving its old plans shows that they. are truly desperate and have no solution. when it comes to the great Iranian. nation. Therefore, they keep bringing. their old plans back onto the scene. The US naval blockade also remains in. place as Sentcom says 70 commercial. vessels have been redirected since the. blockade was reimposed. In terms of US. military movement, the USS Abraham. Lincoln is headed home after being.

deployed for 274 days. This aircraft. carrier made its last port call in. December, breaking a Navy record. The. vessel is being replaced by the. Japan-based USS George Washington. On. Friday, President Trump doubled down on. his position that the Straight of Hormuz. is now US territory. >> They'll never have a nuclear weapon. They want to make a deal so badly. We. don't even know if we want because I. view the Strait of Hormuz as an American. territory right now. It's an American. territory.

>> The question remains, will this economic. pressure lead to a new deal or a return. to combat? Guys, >> so Trey, if we're going to put these. sanctions on, uh, presumably they're. going to be on other countries that deal. with Iran. If they trade with Iran, they're going to be subjected to our. sanctions. So that means Pakistan. because Pakistan set up a trade is tried. up their own trade deal with Iran. That. means Turkey who set up their own trade. deal with Iran. People have focused on. China and Russia, but these other. countries are going to be in the line of.

fire and that's kind of a tenuous. situation. Absolutely. And there's two points to. note here. One, the Pakistani field. marshal that does have a relationship. with President Trump is on the ground in. Thran today trying to work out some of. the behind the scenes of what is taking. place. Remember, there are no direct. communications according to both sides. now between the United States and Iran. about a possible agreement. And this. does come on the heels of what are. expected to be massive economic. sanctions against the regime. The second.

thing has to do with what President. Trump said earlier this month. He. indicated that any country around the. world that is doing business with Iran, providing sanctions relief or trying to. get around these economic measures would. face economic consequences of their own. And so the United States is trying to. put into place here a program that will. not only pressure tan but will also. deter allies of the Iranians from doing. business with the regime. The goal here. is to economically isolate the Iranians. from the rest of the world and try to. get them to change their behavior. But. we have to look at the situation on the.

ground. We have been stuck in this cycle. in the region of strikes and statements. with no end in sight. >> So Trey, real quickly, their first plan. was to use the straight as leverage. And. it looks like the administration has. gotten that under control. So they can't. really play that game right now, although they'll do some type of uh you. know, strikes here and there on on. different cargo ships. But their next. plan now is the November midterms. And. I'm just curious, what is their stated. plan? How do they plan on leveraging. that against the the president?

>> So, the Iranians often through. propaganda outlets will talk about the. midterms in the United States. President. Trump has told Fox News that the. midterms are not affecting his. decision-making process as it relates to. Iran. When we look at the levers that. the Iranians still have to pull, there. were some interesting statements over. the weekend where some top IRGC. officials were talking again about the. country's nuclear program and hinting at. the fact that they may try to advance. what remains of that program. But when. we look at the straight of Hormuz, the.

Iranians continue to say they are in. control of the strait. The reality on. the ground is very important to look at. The crossings through the Straight of. Hormuz are up 400% over the past 2. weeks, but they're still down about 90%. from pre-war levels. What the United. States has been able to do here on the. side, which is quite interesting, is. oversee vessels that were previously. trapped in the Persian Gulf safely. through this southern passage out of the. straight of Hormuz. And this is allowing. millions of barrels of Gulf crude oil. from US allies, not from the Iranians, to be exported. And it's undercutting.

Iranian efforts to maintain control over. this critical waterway. And so this. operation, coupled with the economic. sanctions and the ongoing US naval. blockade, US officials hope will. ultimately change Iranian behavior. But. at this point, we're looking at weeks. and months ahead with again the Iranians. remaining defiant because they don't. care if their people are affected. What. they do care about though is the. possibility of protest erupting again. inside of Iran. And regional. intelligence sources tell Fox News that. is a legitimate concern for officials in.

the Iranian capital. >> All right, Trey, thank you so much. The. New York Post has an excellent article. It's called Scare. It's the It's on the. front cover, Scared Straight. And it. talks about how the Iranian supreme. leader is under mounting pressure from. the Iranians because of the high. inflation, unemployment, the grip on the. strait has weakened. It talks about how. cash is tight. Top political leaders are. urging the regime to find a way out. Iran's um own oil exports have dropped. to near zero. And then you heard Trey.

talking about how there is flow through. the straight and it represents a 400%. spike in the last two weeks which means. Iran has lost partial control of the. strait. So I hope that this pressure and. then the sanctions today there will be. conversations because you brought up a. good point about the midterms but that's. still nine weeks away. How long can they. hold on? >> It's true. Well yeah they could wait and. just try to make October hellacious. uh. gobble off gobble off the speaker said. no matter how much military we have if. our people are struggling and the.

country lacks financial circulation and. economic growth we will not achieve. progress so that's the good cop you know. that's now the bad cop is the IRGC. >> right. >> in the meantime the Trump administration. is getting ready to announce what it is. calling economic D-Day an operation. designed to completely isolate Iran's. economy here to give us some analysis on. all of this is General Jack Keane. General good morning to you thanks for. coming on today. Um, so it looks like. President Trump is deciding to hold off. on kinetic military action, at least for.

now, and he's opting instead to try to. strangle Iran economically. Uh, Treasury. Secretary Scott Besson has a big. announcement this afternoon. Here's how. here's how he is teasing it. He says, quote, "We're now entering the endgame. At dawn begins an economic D-Day, the. single greatest financial offensive ever. marshaled against an adversary. Our. objective is to sever every economic. lifeline that sustains the tyrannical. regime until tan stands alone. General, what do you think of the strategy here?

>> Yeah. Well, if anybody can do this, it's. Secretary Besson. He comes into this. position with lots of experience, lots. of determination, and obviously he's really very smart and. clever at how to do this. Countries like. Iran and Russia have always developed a. workaround to sanctions. We have known. that even countries that are abiding by. the sanctions after a few weeks they. have a tendency to throttle back and it. really takes US enforcement and. supervision day in day out hour by hour.

to make certain that those sanctions are. really being executed and that takes a. whole team to do something like that. I'm I'm assuming he's putting together. even a larger team more like a task. force to be able to accomplish this. What he's actually saying here is that. all trade and all business with Iran. will stop. That's what he's trying to. enforce here. I don't think that has. ever been tried before. If anybody can. accomplish that, it is in my judgment, it is this man. And just to give you a. sense of how complicated this is,

Pakistan and Turkey in the month of. August, this very month, have entered. into an agreement with Iran to increase. their trade. The UAE handled all of their financial. arrangements for years, all during this. war period and that adds the. complication to it. Now, the UAE has. voluntarily severed all relations with. Iran. And our audience can say, well, why is this? Why are the allies. supporting them? Why are our partners. supporting the Iranians like this? And.

the list is much longer than I. described. Well, they take the note from. us. For 50 years, we've had an impement. strategy with them. We tried to make. deals. We did all sorts of things with. this regime. We never confronted them. until this president did. And that yes, that's going to take a behavior change. on their part, Bill. They're going to. have to cooperate and we're going to. have to get tough with some of our. allies and the partners to make sure. they contribute to this isolation of.

Iran. The second and third parts of this. is the blockade which we've talked about. and how successful that is. All of the. revenue sources that Iran gets from. trading through their ports is shut off. And then the third thing and we're. talking about the success it's achieving. is opening up the straits of Amuse off. the coast of Aman. The task force from. the 82nd is doing that for the Sentcom. commander and they're increasing that. traffic through there. 200 last week,

150 the week before, less than 100 the. week before that. All moving in the. right direction. Still a far cry from. 130 ships per day transiting through. there. I'm sure the market is seeing the. trend is moving in the right direction. So, we're on a path here to bring Iran. to its knees. That's what Secretary. Besson has in mind. He actually talks. about it collapsing. The truth is nobody. knows. Where is Iran coming from, Bill? They fundamentally, this is their. leaders who run the place. They believe.

they can outlast the United States here. They don't care about the suffering of. their people. They're willing to make. sacrifices themselves likely. And. they're going to they consider victory. surviving. And if that is the only thing. that you want to achieve here, they're. going to go as far as they possibly can. They don't even know themselves how far. they can go. We're going to find out. here as we move down this path. And if. they do what I think they're likely to. do, which is increase the violence to. demonstrate that this plan of President.

Trump's is not working prior to the. midterms, then the president will. respond very decisively against. something like that. >> All right, got to leave it there. Iran's. been hammered by the War Department. Now. it looks like they're about to be. hammered by the Treasury Department as. well. General Jack Keane, always. appreciate your insights. Thanks for. joining us today. to the Middle East. The Trump. administration is expected to roll out. what Treasury Secretary Scott Besson. calls the toughest sanctions in the. history against Iran. >> Chief foreign correspondent Trey joins. us live from Tel Aviv with the details.

Trey. >> Yeah. Hey guys, good morning. The United. States is set to unleash new economic. sanctions against Iran to put new. pressure on the regime in Thran. US. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant wrote. on Sunday, "President Donald Trump and. the overwhelming might of our military. have significantly dismantled Iran's. military capabilities and weakened its. nuclear program. Now we are entering the. endgame. At dawn begins an economic. D-Day, the single greatest financial. offensive ever marshaled against any.

adversary." The economic pressure comes. as the Iranian realal crossed 2 million. to one US dollar, a historic low for the. country's currency. The head of Iran's. Supreme National Security Council. responded on X, saying, "If the economic. war continues, not a single drop of oil. will be exported, neither through the. straight of Hormuz nor from anywhere in. the Persian Gulf, Iran will regard any. country's participation in or support. for America's economic war against the. Iranian people as an act of war. Despite. this statement, reports do indicate that.

crossings through the Straight of Hormuz. are up 400% over the last two weeks. The. United States is overseeing vessels out. of the Persian Gulf through a safer. southern passage. This passage allows. for millions of barrels of crude oil to. be exported each day. Still, the. Iranians remain defiant. >> The fact that the United States has once. again moved from military threats, saying that it will strike and so on to. reviving its old plans shows that they. are truly desperate and have no solution. when it comes to the great Iranian. nation. Therefore, they keep bringing.

their old plans back onto the scene. The US naval blockade also remains in. place as Sentcom says 70 commercial. vessels have been redirected since the. blockade was reimposed. In terms of US. military movement, the USS Abraham. Lincoln is headed home after being. deployed for 274 days. This aircraft. carrier made its last port call in. December, breaking a Navy record. The. vessel is being replaced by the. Japan-based USS George Washington. On. Friday, President Trump doubled down on. his position that the strait is now US.

territory. They'll never have a nuclear weapon. They want to make a deal so badly. We. don't even know if we want because I. view the straight of Horos as an. American territory right now. It's an. American territory. >> The question remains, will this new. economic pressure lead to a deal or a. return to combat? Guys, >> Trey, we have had sanctions on Iran for. decades and we've been in a war with. them now for months with increased.

sanctions. Iran's economy is teetering. on the collapse as it is. How could. these new sanctions actually be the. death blow to the Iranian economy and. ultimately at the end of the day force. this regime out? Look, there's a compounding factor here. and we don't know exactly what's going. to be announced by the US Treasury, but. the real number is really the most. significant over the past 24 hours. It. is at a historic low more than 2 million. realale to one US dollar and it's an.

indication that inflation inside of Iran. is rapidly rising. Coupled with the US. naval blockade and additional sanctions, it puts new pressure on the regime in. Thran. And again, this question about. who can make the decisions inside of. Iran. President Trump on Friday talked. about this as being one of the biggest. problems of the United States that even. if new pressure is applied, they have to. get to the individuals who can actually. make an agreement and ensure that it's. enforced. Okay, Trey Yang live for us. Thank you, Trey. We're going to bring in the US.

ambassador to NATO, Matt Whitaker. Matt, thanks for coming on. You know, obviously, as we just heard Trey say, we. don't know what these sanctions are. going to be that's going to be announced. today. But my question is, why wasn't. something like this done sooner? >> Good morning and it's good to be with. you. Well, Ashley, the real reason is. that obviously there is a escalation. that you would go through. you don't. maximize everything that you bring uh to. a conflict like this. And so, you know, President Trump has uh obviously kept.

the clear goal of getting a deal done. that guarantees forever that Iran does. not predate produ possess nuclear. weapons and that's going to always be. the number one goal. And so, you know, incrementally increasing the pressure on. uh Iran and the regime, I think will. accomplish that. uh you know we have a. militarily uh you know they've been. decimated they're they have no. meaningful military that can defend or. protect the Iran Iranian people and.

their navy is on the bottom of the. straight of Hormuse and so you know. these sanctions I think that are going. to be announced today I'm not going to. get ahead of Secretary Bessant uh but I. think these sanctions are going to be. dramatic I think they're going to be. meaningful but you know I want to. highlight their currency is as weak as. it's ever been and inflation is. skyrocketing and those two things. combined with this uh naval blockade. that's being successfully executed. together with us opening a lane in the.

straight of Hormuse to move oil in and. out and ships back in to get more oil. I. mean you know some days I think this is. important Ashley some days we are moving. more oil now than we did pre-conlict. because of the pipelines that have been. uh opened up and and all that's. happening uh in the Middle East. And so. this is obviously uh we are entering an. inphase but uh you know Scott Besson's. announcement today is critical and. important. >> and he's putting other nations on notice. warning those who continue to.

financially back Thrron stating the. following. The alternative for those who. tether themselves to Thran is the. foreclosure of any path to lasting. prosperity and any nation that serves as. a financial artery of a withering regime. should expect to share in its isolation. basically saying, "Look, we're going. after Iran, but if you side with Iran, we're going to go after you, too, and. that's going to be horrible for your. future." Which countries is Scott. Bessant really threatening there, ambassador?

Well, there are several countries that. still continue to trade with Iran and. it's no secret and it's been publicly uh. talked about that China still buys oil. from Iran uh especially when it was able. to get out of the straight uh you know. countries like uh India also uh accept. shadow fleet uh oil from other countries. including Iran. So I think there's you. know this is a a clear indication that.

the conflict is with Iran. Uh that we do. not seek conflict to expand this. conflict. We you know we want everybody. to join the United States in the. denuclearization of Iran because this is. an important project. Can you imagine as. crazy as they have been since this. conflict began if they possess possessed. a nuclear weapon how threatening that. would be not only to the region but as. they developed even more sophisticated. missile technologies how that could. threaten here in Europe and even the.

continental United States and and and. that is not acceptable. President Trump. has said that that is not acceptable and. he's taken action. Many presidents have. dithered on this issue. President Trump. has taken decisive action. >> Yeah. And and as we heard Trey say, I. mean, one of the main issues, if not, you know, it's a huge issue with dealing. with Iran is who is making these. decisions and who's who's agreeing on. this? Because we'll say one thing and. then we'll hear them say something. completely different. So, obviously that. is something that is is high on the.

radar for the administration. Um, but do. you think that they can actually come to. some sort of agreement? I mean if if not. all this pressure is put on them but can. there be do you think there can be an. agreement made with them? >> I think there is always a chance for a a. deal to be made. Uh we continue to open. uh be open to that possibility. Uh but. this is absolutely an issue is is. knowing exactly who you're making a deal.

with and can they follow through? And. you know the the the bluster that we're. hearing from the Iranians is is from. desperation. They are obviously not. strong. They are not in a strong. position. It is time for them to come to. the table, enter into the deal, no. nuclear weapon, become a peaceful state. that is part of the world community and. that is always open to them. But you. know we do not have any tolerance for a. nuclear ambitious. >> Iran and President Trump has made that. very clear. And also, we need to be.

clear, the politics are always at play. here. This is pretty good news, a pretty. good weekend of news for the. administration with regard to the war in. Iran with the midterms now officially. less than two and a half months away. >> Ambassador Whitaker, thank you as. always. We appreciate it. >> Thank you. Be sure to like and subscribe for all. the Fox News latest on YouTube and catch. full shows streaming now on Fox.