The United States will be shutting down both Iranian airlines’ access to landing spots, refueling, and ticket sales, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a post on X on Thursday.
Iranian "troops are not getting paid, the police are not reporting for work, and Kharg Island is shut down. The Iranian economy and currency are in free fall," said Bessent.
"Only a satisfactory outcome in negotiations will end the downward spiral," he added.
On Wednesday, the Trump administration placed additional sanctions on Iran as part of a sprawling economic pressure campaign during the war, this time targeting the country's newly-created agency that is trying to control shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
The move, first reported by The Associated Press, is the latest US effort to use economic leverage on top of military action to push Iran's leadership into an agreement to end the war and open the waterway where a fifth of the world's oil and natural gas normally passes. President Donald Trump has said a deal is imminent, but talks are ongoing.
It comes as rising energy prices and other costs stemming from Iran's effective closure of the strait have heaped political pressure on Trump and other Republicans ahead of the midterm congressional elections.
"The Iranian military's latest attempt to extort global maritime trade is proof that Economic Fury has left the regime desperate for cash," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement.
The sanctions target Iran's Persian Gulf Strait Authority and any person or entity cooperating with the agency, announced earlier this month, that approves transit in the strait and charges tolls that could reach as high as USD 2 million per vessel.