The economic issues were a direct result of US foreign policy.

​In a January 2026 interview at the World Economic Forum and his February testimony before Congress, Scott Bessent took credit for engineering a "dollar shortage" that triggered a currency crisis and mass protests in Iran.

Bessent used phrases such as "Making Iran broke again" and described the resulting economic turmoil as "economic statecraft with no shots fired."

Through sanctions, the dollar shortage and currency crisis/hyperinflation led to the collapse of one of Iran's major banks, which led to the protests prior to the war starting.