The European Union has backed the EU Iran sanctions push led by Washington, endorsing a sweeping campaign targeting Tehran’s access to global finance just as Group of 20 finance ministers and central bank governors gathered in Asheville, North Carolina. The endorsement adds multilateral weight to a pressure campaign that has already drawn fierce pushback from Iran and sharp warnings to countries that continue trading with it.
Operation Economic Outcast: what the campaign covers
The Trump administration launched what it calls “Operation Economic Outcast” in late August, with US Treasury Secretary Bessent unveiling the package at a Treasury Department news conference on 24 August 2026, according to Wikipedia. The campaign expanded secondary sanctions to cover digital assets, advanced technology procurement, gold reserves, commercial aviation and shipping, a broader set of categories than previous rounds of Iran-related measures.
Bessent framed the effort in stark terms, writing that “the United States stands firm with our allies in ensuring the murderous Iranian regime cannot exploit the global financial system to fund its nuclear ambitions, weapons programs, and terror proxies.” He also described it as an “economic onslaught” against Iran’s global financial connections and warned that countries helping Tehran should “expect to share in the isolation of a withering regime.”
Ahead of the G20 summit, Bessent had signalled his intention to press counterparts to cut financial ties with Tehran or face secondary sanctions of their own. He also indicated new secondary sanctions would follow each week, with an initial focus on banks, warning that institutions facilitating Iran-related transactions risk being cut off entirely from the dollar-based financial system.
The EU has separately maintained its own sanctions regime targeting Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programmes and its military support for Russia, meaning the bloc’s backing of the US campaign layers on top of measures it already has in place.
Named firms and China’s exposure to the Gulf
The sanctions list includes several firms and individuals based in China and Hong Kong. Among those named are Hong Kong’s Sweet Ocean Industrial Limited and individuals Li Na, Tian Jianbai and Zhang Limei, according to IndexBox. The inclusion of Hong Kong-based entities illustrates how broadly Washington is casting its net in the EU Iran sanctions push, reaching into financial and trading networks far beyond Tehran itself.
China’s position is particularly exposed. Before the war, China was Iran’s largest trading partner, buying around 90% of Iran’s sanctioned crude exports. CNBC has reported that China sources 50% of its energy from the Gulf, underlining just how much is at stake for Beijing if the conflict continues to disrupt flows through the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei pushed back against the EU’s endorsement, calling Washington’s approach “economic terrorism.” In a post on 1 September, Baghaei accused the bloc of having “surrendered its sovereignty, its laws and regulations, values and ethics to US coercion.”
South Korea weighs military role in Hormuz
Separately from the financial pressure campaign, South Korea is weighing options that could include military assistance to support the US bid to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to commercial shipping, Reuters reported, citing the presidential office. The South Korean government denied local media reports that a decision had already been made, saying in a statement that “details related to the issue have yet to be decided.”
Several South Korean media outlets had reported that Seoul was preparing to send troops to the Gulf region before year-end and could seek parliamentary approval as soon as this month. Washington has expressed dissatisfaction with Seoul’s reluctance to offer military assistance, including by scaling back an annual joint military drill and cancelling a landing drill that had been scheduled for September.
The backdrop for both the financial and military dimensions of this standoff is a deteriorating security situation in the region. The US military carried out a new wave of strikes earlier this week, hitting military targets in Iran in retaliation for attacks on ships and American forces. Iran has retaliated by launching missiles at US military bases across the Middle East.
The Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint for roughly a fifth of global oil flows before the war, has seen shipping remain subdued, with Iran launching periodic strikes on vessels using the southern shipping lane near the Omani coast. US Central Command said on Friday that it has redirected 87 commercial vessels, disabled three and boarded two to enforce compliance with the naval blockade it maintains in the strait.
