New Delhi, Aug. 25 -- The currency that once bought a family's groceries for a week now barely covers a tank of gas. At 200,000 tomans to the dollar, Iran's rial has fallen so far that traders in Tehran's bazaars quote prices in dollars and euros rather than risk the arithmetic of a denomination in free fall. On Monday, the Trump administration made a deliberate choice to press that collapse further.

to remove Iran entirely from the global financial system. "Around the globe, our objective is to sever every economic lifeline that sustains this tyrannical regime until Tehran stands alone," Bessent said in a statement on Monday.

President Trump has dismantled Iran's military capabilities, destroyed nearly 100 percent of its military facto...