US Treasury Secretary says US sanctions crushed Iran’s economy and sparked protests

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday that the Trump administration’s “maximum pressure campaign” against Iran was responsible for collapsing the country’s economy and sparking the protests and unrest that began at the end of December.

At the Treasury, what we have done is created a dollar shortage in the country … It came to a swift and, I would say, grand culmination in December, when one of the largest banks in Iran went under. There was a run on the bank,” Bessent said.

“The central bank had to print money, the Iranian currency went into free fall, inflation exploded, and hence we have seen the Iranian people out on the street,” he added.

Bessent said that he outlined his plan to destroy the Iranian economy in a speech he delivered at the Economic Club of New York in March 2025.