Bessent's Operation Economic Outcast

Austin Bay on Aug 26, 2026

On Aug. 5, I wrote a column entitled "Scott Bessent's Money Ammo."

When I wrote that column, the secretary of Treasury had already fired several powerful economic rounds aimed at Iran's Islamic terrorist regime. But the tough guys in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps didn't flinch -- at least rhetorically.

Propagandists are similar to Hollywood screenwriter wannabes. The IRGC's screenwriter's guild wants to sell a fake success and invulnerability, their pitch built on macho bluster (plus chest pounding and Trump denunciation), a few missiles fired at oil tankers and a couple of missiles fired at neighboring Arab states. Then IRGC propagandists rely on the if it bleeds, it leads media ready to magnify their smoking video.

But. With the Iranian air force, navy, military surveillance assets and missile launchers destroyed by American military firepower, and logistics support nodes either destroyed or isolated, fierce verbiage, chest beating and the planet's appetite for oil just might stall a Trump administration confronting November elections and $6-a-gallon gas!

We see this Iranian cartoon in U.S. media. Here's what the cartoon misses: The U.S. is a multi-pronged power.

From a column I wrote in 2005: "The acronym is DIME -- a quick verbal coin for the four elements of national power: 'Diplomatic,' 'Information,' 'Military' and 'Economic' power."

When "policy is working," diplomacy, economic interests, military power and information power (both the ability to communicate and to gather intelligence) complement one another. It's a difficult ballet, but choreographing and directing this dance is the business of statesmen."

Information -- including the whereabouts of Iranian regime leaders. By that I mean the gangsters who killed somewhere between 800,000 and 1.2 million (or more) of their own citizens since 1979 when the Ayatollah Khomeini and his fanatics seized power in Iran.

Intelligence tracked the top two echelons of Iranian leaders. These leaders were killed or wounded in the U.S. air and missile strikes from late February to mid-March -- taken off the chess board in spy novel lingo.

The Trump administration has repeatedly tried Diplomacy -- jaw jaw in lieu of war war, to sort of quote Churchill. But IRGC fanatics see Diplomacy as stall stall. These delusional junior ayatollahs believe they have weathered the Military onslaught. They remain convinced Chinese money, bought global media and U.S. elections will ensure their survival.

But -- one again. On Aug. 24, Bessent announced the Trump administration is pulling all of the financial triggers the world's largest economy possesses, owns, influences and can damage if required.

The Big E -- Economic power. Bessent's latest volley even targets the world's financial sewers, the dark connections linking crooked banks, intelligence agencies, crypto hoaxers, international scammers and fraudsters, and air, sea and land smugglers.

"We are enforcing a zero-leakage approach," Bessent announced. "There will be no minimal breathing space for the regime to rebuild its capacity to inflict terror against America and the world."

I love the name: Operation Economic Outcast. Yes, the title is pretty darn Hollywood -- except backed up by military power, trillions in economic muscle and constant intelligence surveillance.

It's also backed up by Trump administration will. And a lot of planning. Zero leakage, Bessent said, and I'm sure he means it. My Aug. 5 column sketched some of that.

In February, Bessent spoke to the Economic Club of Dallas. Bessent's speech stated the Trump administration's long-range (strategic) goals. In retrospect, this statement strikes me as a warning to Tehran. Tehran's remnant regime should note this point: "Preparedness means ensuring that no adversary believes it can hold the American economy hostage or disrupt the well-being of American citizens. Geopolitical risk must be a key factor considered in policy-making across agencies, and not treated as an afterthought."

The IRGC will not hold the U.S. economy hostage by possessing nuclear weapons or threatening to close the Strait of Hormuz.

DIME's M -- Military. This week, the Pentagon declared that the Strait of Hormuz has been cleared of sea mines. A senior Pentagon official said U.S. air and missile attacks on Iranian regime assets could re-commence on order. DIME's E -- according to internet sources, it now takes somewhere between 1.8 million and 2 million Iranian rials to buy one U.S. dollar.

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To find out more about Austin Bay and read features by other Creators writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.

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