Bessent’s promised sanctions package lands the same week Gulf officials tell the Post they are paying for the war

Speaking on Newsmax’s Rob Schmitt Tonight on 13 August, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said: “Watch this space for more announcements coming next week because we are going to apply measures like have never been seen in the history of economic isolation on a country.” He described the plan as “a combination of economic isolation like the world has never seen before, and the continued blockade in the Strait of Hormuz that will keep anything from going in or out of the Iranian ports” — a “one-two punch.” The quotes are confirmed across BNN Bloomberg and the Washington Times. For scale, Jeremy Paner, a partner at Hughes Hubbard & Reed who tracks Iran’s energy industry, counts roughly 2,200 sanctions-related designations on Iran since 2018; the figure appeared in ZeroHedge, a partisan outlet. Kerri Bitsoff, a former OFAC official, told Iran International, an opposition-aligned channel, on 13 August: “Sanctions can’t topple a regime on their own. That’s not what they’re for.”

The Washington Post, in a 15 August report sourced to anonymous Arab and Western officials, described Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain as increasingly critical of the administration, with anger at its highest since the 28 February US-Israeli attack. One Arab official: “Trump started this war, and we are paying the price.” A diplomat, on hosting US bases: “It was more something that was a necessary evil. Now, the necessity of it is being put in question.” A senior European official called the Saudi–Turkish–Pakistani defence pact, signed in Mecca on 8 August, “a signal to the US.” The White House responded that Trump has “extraordinary relationships with all of our Gulf partners” and that Iran is “more isolated than ever before.” The Post published a Planet Labs image dated 27 July showing smoke over the Aramco processing facility at Abqaiq.

The cost is measurable. CNN, citing UKMTO for the seven days to about 14 August, put Hormuz traffic at 17% of the pre-conflict average, with Panama and Liberia the most common flags at 12 vessels each and no US-flagged vessels recorded — a slight improvement on the prior week. Lloyd’s List Intelligence counted 78 transits from 3–9 August, down from 95, and noted marine insurers estimate $1.5bn–$2bn in claims from around 70 casualties since end-February; Container Trades Statistics data show regional imports down 21% and exports down 31%. Brent closed at $88.52 on Friday 14 August, up 1.67% on the day and 34.43% year on year, with a 52-week range of $58.72 to $126.41. The EIA’s Short-Term Energy Outlook, released 11 August, forecasts Brent near $85/b and expects regional production to approach pre-conflict levels only in early 2027, with ongoing disruption of about 0.6 million b/d.

Assessment: Bessent’s framing is the tell: the “one-two punch” pairs designations with a naval blockade, which concedes that paper alone is not doing the work after 2,200 designations. The blockade, not the sanctions list, is what moves Brent — and what the Gulf is billing Washington for. That is the collision to watch this week. An administration promising unprecedented isolation needs the same capitals that are now questioning why they host its bases. Note also who is speaking: the Gulf frustration story is entirely anonymous, the shipping numbers are preliminary and revised weekly — Lloyd’s restated one week’s transits from 84 to 95 — and Iran International and ZeroHedge both carry agendas. The direction of travel is solid; the decimal points are not.