Iran live updates: Trump administration expands scope of secondary sanctions

The Treasury Department said Monday that the Trump administration is expanding "secondary sanctions exposure for those who continue doing business with the Iranian regime and will accelerate the pace of U.S. enforcement."

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U.S. Treasury unveils new sanctions on entities that do business with IranTreasury secretary Scott Bessent announced secondary sanctions on entities and countries that maintain business ties with Iran.

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Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said "the reason we are able to use secondary sanctions is because we do not take their use lightly -- so we believe that a warning shot and a level set of expectations is appropriate."

"Every country, every entity should know that they should be prepared to face U.S. sanctions," Bessent said in remarks on Monday. "And no one is above this -- we are going to hold everyone accountable. And this is the economic asphyxiation of this regime."

The Treasury Department said in a statement that "every country will be given a defined timeline to shut down the Iran-related activity we have identified," and if the country fails to act, "Treasury will act."

Bessent in a statement compared these actions with D-Day from WWII, saying, “in that same spirit, we are launching an economic onslaught against Iran’s financial connections around the globe.” Bessent said the goal is to “sever every economic lifeline” that sustains Iran.

-ABC News' Michelle Stoddart

The U.S. Treasury is expected to expand the scope of secondary sanctions it can impose on entities and countries that maintain business ties with Iran in an effort to ramp up economic pressure, a source familiar with the plans told ABC News.

The announcement is expected Monday afternoon. Reuters was first to report the news.

The source said the action is likely to reveal ‌additional categories of Iran-related conduct that would be subject to secondary sanctions in the future, making it easier to take action against those facilitating the transactions on behalf of the Iranian government.

A senior administration official said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is expected to warn that any remaining financial lifelines -- including through banks and third countries that have tolerated certain activity -- must be shut down.

The official said the Treasury Department has "mapped Iran's oil-smuggling and sanctions-evasion network" and plans to present this information to countries helping Iran evade the sanctions as a warning.

Mohammad Mokhber, a senior adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, says Iran's response to U.S. sanctions will be "more decisive than ever."

-ABC News’ Rachel Scott

A tanker was struck by an "unknown projectile" off the coast of Saudi Arabia, according to UK Marine Trade Operations.

A security officer reported the strike, which hit the main deck, causing a fire, as the ship was about 63 nautical miles off the coast of Yanbu, Saudi Arabia, UKMTO said on Monday.

"All crew are safe and accounted for and no envirnomental impact has been reported," UKMTO said on social media.

Iran will not export "a single drop of oil" as long as the U.S. continues its "economic war" again the country, an Iranian official said Sunday.

"If the economic war continues, not a single drop of oil will be exported٫ neither through the Strait of Hormuz nor from anywhere in the Persian Gulf," Mohsen Rezaee, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, posted on X.

"Iran will regard any country’s participation in or support for America’s economic war against the Iranian people as an act of war," the post continued.

Also Sunday, Iran's Persian Gulf Strait Authority (PGSA) said in its own X post that "vessels violating Iranian protocols for the Strait of Hormuz shall face restrictions on future passages, including fines, detention, or confiscation." It also listed steps it said vessel owners must take "to avoid potential problems," including reviewing an online list of non-complaint vessels.

The comments come after President Donald Trump announced Wednesday on his social media platform that his administration is embarking on what he called the "MOST CRUSHING ECONOMIC OPERATION EVER TAKEN AGAINST ANY COUNTRY."

-ABC News' Will Gretsky