WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday defended the Trump administration’s push to economically isolate Iran, arguing that increased pressure would eventually force the Islamic Republic “to come to its senses” and negotiate.

“The goal here is to create the conditions that they will want to come to the table,” Bessent said in a CNBC interview. “They have to turn over the highly enriched uranium, and they have to stop their support of proxies, and the [Strait of Hormuz] has to be open.”

The top Treasury official spoke a week after unveiling what he called “Operation Economic Outcast,” a campaign of stepped-up sanctions on Iran and its trading partners after six months of war. Bessent is using his meeting with the Group of 20 finance ministers in Asheville, North Carolina, this week to rally international backing, calling on countries to endorse the sanctions and cut their financial ties to Iran.

Iran’s economy was in dire shape before the war, prompting weeks of anti-government protests that began late last year. Recent US sanctions and the naval blockade have deepened the economic crisis, leaving Iran's population of some 93 million to contend with high unemployment, water and energy shortages, long lines at gas stations and a weakened currency that fell to a record low against the dollar last month. Annual inflation reached 66% in July and is expected to hit nearly 70% by year’s end, according to the International Monetary Fund.