US Treasury Thanks Turkey, Oman, UAE for Backing Iran Sanctions
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent thanked the UK, Turkey, Oman and the UAE for backing US sanctions on Iran amid the ongoing Strait of Hormuz standoff.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has publicly thanked the governments of the United Kingdom, Turkey, Oman and the United Arab Emirates for supporting Washington’s sanctions campaign against Iran, according to Middle East Eye. The acknowledgment signals the administration is working to shore up allied cooperation on enforcement at a moment when the broader standoff with Tehran remains unresolved.
What Bessent said
Bessent’s statement singled out four governments with distinct roles in the region: a NATO ally with longstanding trade ties to Iran (Turkey), a Gulf state that has historically served as a diplomatic back-channel to Tehran (Oman), a major Gulf financial and shipping hub (the UAE), and Washington’s closest security partner (the United Kingdom). Naming all four together suggests the Treasury Department is treating sanctions compliance as a coordinated, multi-track effort rather than relying on any single partner to close off Iran’s remaining financial and trade channels.
The Treasury Department has not published the full text of Bessent’s remarks in the reporting available, and it is not yet clear what specific enforcement actions — asset freezes, banking restrictions, shipping interdictions, or intelligence sharing — prompted the thanks. America Strikes will update this article as the Treasury Department releases additional detail.
Why the timing matters
The gesture comes as the Iran standoff has entered a more confrontational phase. President Trump this week rejected a seven-day Iranian roadmap that would have reopened the Strait of Hormuz to normal shipping traffic in exchange for a naval blockade lift, a sanctions waiver on oil sales, and the release of roughly $12 billion in frozen Iranian assets, according to Al Jazeera. Trump called the terms “not acceptable,” a rejection detailed in earlier coverage of Iran’s $12 billion Hormuz roadmap and the broader ceasefire proposal Tehran floated through Qatar.
With the diplomatic track stalled, sanctions enforcement becomes a more central lever for Washington. Bessent’s public thanks to Turkey, Oman and the UAE — three governments with the practical ability to either tighten or loosen the flow of goods and capital into Iran — reads as an effort to keep allied pressure consistent while the Hormuz talks remain frozen. Separate reporting has also indicated Trump has told aides he expects to resume military strikes on Iran after November’s midterm elections, a dynamic covered in earlier reporting on the truce rejection.
The diplomatic backdrop
The sanctions message also lands against a wider backdrop of great-power friction over Iran policy playing out this week at the United Nations. China used its UN General Assembly address to push back against the US approach to both Iran and Cuba, according to Reuters. Beijing’s public criticism of the sanctions regime underscores why Washington’s outreach to Turkey, Oman and the UAE carries added weight: each has its own commercial and diplomatic relationship with both Tehran and Beijing, and their continued cooperation with US sanctions is not guaranteed by default.
Congressional Republicans have separately pressed the administration to maintain a firm posture on Iran, a dynamic detailed in earlier reporting on GOP pressure over Iran and China policy. Bessent’s statement can be read as evidence that, at least on the sanctions front, that pressure is translating into visible diplomatic coordination rather than unilateral US action.
What to watch
The open questions are what specific steps Turkey, Oman and the UAE have taken or agreed to take, and whether the UK’s inclusion signals a broader G7-style coordination push on Iran sanctions. Also unresolved is whether continued sanctions cooperation from Gulf partners will affect the status of the Strait of Hormuz closure, which continues to disrupt regional shipping regardless of the sanctions track. America Strikes will follow up as the Treasury Department or the named governments provide further detail on the substance of the cooperation being acknowledged.
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