Bessent Pushes G20 Finance Ministers To Apply Pressure on Iran

Sanctions against Tehran will work even if China does not join in, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Monday ahead of a Group of 20 summit at Ashville, North Carolina, where he is pressing leaders of the world’s largest economies to assist in dismantling the Islamic Republic.In remarks to the press Monday ahead of the economic summit, Mr. Bessent thanked the European Union and the European Central Bank for a “strong statement of support” for American’s economic operations against the Iranian regime. “Together this group will end this 47-year horrendous reign that they have had,” Mr. Bessent said ahead of talks among finance ministers and central bank officials. During a break at the meeting, Mr. Bessent told CNBC that Iran has only about 30 million barrels of oil left on the water because of the military blockade stopping Iran shipping. Mr. Bessent said that when those supplies are fully tapped, China will not be able to buy more Iranian oil. “I would push back on that false narrative that somehow the media has jumped on this, ‘Oh, you can’t do it without China,’” Mr. Bessent said. Mr. Bessent also said he met over the weekend with the governor of the People’s Bank of China, Pan Gongsheng. “We have more in common with the Chinese on Iran than we disagree on,” Mr. Bessent said.Iran and the American military exchanged fire for the first time in weeks on Sunday. The United States Central Command said it took “limited, precise action” against minelaying forces posing a threat in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran claimed it carried out retaliatory strikes against American bases in Jordan.On Monday, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said that an oil tanker came to a stop after hitting two mines in the strait. The Pentagon said that was false and no ships have hit mines in the strait. “This is yet another IRGC attempt to intimidate regional commercial shipping through disinformation,” Central Command said in an X post.Mr. Bessent also met with Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov at the summit. This is the first time the Russian government has had a presence at a G20 meeting since the start of the Ukraine war. Mr Bessent pushed President Trump’s 28-point peace plan to end the Ukraine war, Fox News reported.Some European officials protested his presence at the event and Mr. Siluanov didn’t take part in a group photo of finance ministers after several of them threatened to boycott the picture if Mr. Siluanov was in it. The German finance minister, Lars Klingbeil, said he confronted Mr. Siluanov at the meeting and demanded Russia end the war.“I find the signal sent by receiving the Russian finance minister here quite troubling,” Mr. Klingbeil told reporters on the sidelines of the event. “I would have wanted greater clarity from the American side that he should not be received here as a normal guest,” he added.As Ottawa has promised to retaliate against Washington’s tariffs following a breakdown in meetings earlier this month, Mr. Bessent announced that he would meet with his Canadian counterpart, François-Philippe Champagne, on the sidelines of the G20 meeting. Prior to the conversation, Mr. Bessent took the opportunity to take a couple of jabs at Prime Minister Mark Carney. “Well, I don’t think you can be in a tit-for-tat with someone who’s 13 times larger than you are,” Mr. Bessent said in the CNBC interview. “I mean, we’re not at war with Canada. How are we going to be at war with Canada? What are they going to take their two submarines from the Edmonton Mall and sic them on us?” he asked.Mr. Bessent said Canada was offered the best trade deal that Washington has made with any country and Mr. Carney is hurting Canadian citizens by not accepting it.Even as the bickering with Canada persists, Mr. Bessent was using the G20 summit to push a message of economic growth, calling “stronger, more durable growth” the “central priority” of the United States during its one-year role as the G20’s president, which ends on November 30.“We have made the U.S. the world’s premier destination for capital to flow and for businesses to flourish. Delivered historic tax relief to millions of working families. And reclaimed our position as the world’s energy superpower,” he said.The secretary also invited a group of American business leaders to the G20 summit for the first time. JP Morgan’s chief executive officer, Jamie Dimon, was among the attendees. “This public-private partnership is also informing our work to modernize financial regulation and supervision,” Mr. Bessent told reporters.Kevin Warsh was also attending the meeting for the first time in his role as the newly installed Federal Reserve chairman. Mr. Warsh said America is in a new period of growth and global investment offers no shortage of opportunities.The G20 meetings run through Tuesday. Another meeting of G20 leaders is scheduled for December at Miami.

Bessent Pushes G20 Finance Ministers To Apply Pressure on Iran

Bessent Pushes G20 Finance Ministers To Apply Pressure on Iran

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