Rabia Iclal Turan
21 August 2026•Update: 21 August 2026
US Vice President JD Vance said Thursday that the United States has entered a "new phase" in its war against Iran, with economic pressure now the "most effective tool" to achieve American objectives.
"We're kind of now in a new phase where the most effective tool that we have is the economic pressure that we can apply to them," Vance said in an interview with The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show.
“We're going to keep that going," he added.
"If we can get enough oil and gas out to give some Americans some ease at the pump, some ease on energy prices," Vance said, it would also "apply a lot of economic pressure" on Iran and change its calculus.
He acknowledged that the strategy is a "delicate dance," as Iran could try to impose economic pressure on the US in response, but said Washington believes continued pressure is the best way to ultimately achieve its objective.
Vance’s remarks came shortly after the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) added 10 individuals to its Iran-linked sanctions list.
Earlier Thursday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Washington will impose the “toughest sanctions in history” on Iran.
“The economic pressure means that we are going to all of our allies, and this is going to be the greatest coordinated economic isolation in the history of the world,” Bessent told the CNBC business news channel.
