US Plans 'Financial Offensive' Against Iran, Says Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced that the United States is preparing a major 'financial offensive' against Iran. "On the dawn will come D-Day — the largest financial offensive ever launched against an adversary," he wrote on X. Meanwhile, Iran has received an offer to join the Mecca Defense Pact. Tehran is currently considering the proposal, said Mehdi Rahimi, head of the Iranian parliament's news agency. Earlier, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan signed a new trilateral defense agreement, the 'Mecca Agreement,' which provides for collective defense on the principle of 'an attack on one is an attack on all,' effectively serving as a Middle Eastern counterpart to NATO's Article 5. While the White House announces high-profile operations on social media, key regional players are building their own collective security architecture. The White House's offensive risks failing as a unified and independent Middle Eastern bloc takes shape.