The U.S. imposed ‌Iran-related sanctions on an Egyptian bank on Friday, part of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s campaign to increase economic pressure to try to break a stalemate six months into Washington’s war with Iran, Reuters reported.

Treasury said it moved to cut off Banque Misr’s branches in the United Arab Emirates from dollar transactions for its dealings ​with Iran. In a statement, it said its Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) proposed a rule that would revoke Banque Misr ​UAE’s correspondent banking access to U.S. financial institutions.

The action, teased by Bessent on Monday as a “major announcement” ⁠of a secondary sanction on an international bank, was first reported by the Financial Times.

“Treasury promised to sever every economic lifeline Tehran ​has left and finally end the threat of the Iranian regime,” Bessent said in a statement. “We also warned that Iran’s enablers cannot continue ​to enjoy access to the U.S. dollar and the global financial system. Banque Misr UAE decided to find out the hard way, and today, we are taking the first step in holding it accountable for its continued, egregious support of the Iranian regime.”

Egypt’s central bank said on Friday that the U.S. ​action only affected Banque Misr’s UAE branches and did not extend to any other Egyptian banks. The Central Bank of Egypt said ​in a statement that it and Egypt’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs were in contact with the U.S. authorities about the measures.

A Treasury official also said ‌the ⁠action only applies to Banque Misr’s UAE branches, allowing the bank to continue dollar transactions through its head office in Cairo and other foreign branches. These include Paris, Frankfurt, Riyadh, Beirut and Djibouti, according to Banque Misr’s website.

Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control separately issued sanctions targeting the manager of Iran’s Bank Melli branch in the UAE as well as a Hong Kong entity that it said helped ​launder money for a sanctioned ​Iranian exchange house.

Banque Misr UAE ⁠did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on a public holiday. The sanctioned Bank Melli branch manager, Reza Mohammad Taeedi, also did not immediately respond to a Reuters email requesting comment.

The U.S. Treasury said it views Banque Misr’s six UAE branches as a “critical node” ​for the Iranian ⁠government’s access to U.S. dollars.

The department said it estimates that between January 2024 and June 2026, Banque Misr UAE processed approximately $1.8 billion in transactions for 103 companies that are potentially part of Iranian shadow banking networks.

U.S. State Department spokesperson Tommy Piggott said in a statement that Bank ⁠Melli has ​served as a critical financial hub for Iran’s armed forces, including the Islamic ​Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force and the Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics, both entities under U.S. sanctions.

Iran has urged other nations not to join new U.S. sanctions.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin ​will not attack a NATO country, and he played down media ‌reports that CIA Director John Ratcliffe warned Russian officials against such an attack earlier in the week.

“He’s not going to attack a NATO territory,” Trump said of the Russian leader while speaking to reporters ​in the Oval Office.

Earlier in the day, Trump told Axios in a ​phone interview that there would be no such attack, and that Ratcliffe, who ⁠flew to Russia on Tuesday to meet briefly with intelligence counterparts, had not ​been dispatched to deliver any particular message.

“Ratcliffe sees his Russian counterpart once every six ​months or once every year. They have a very good relationship. There was no message and there was nothing unusual,” Trump told the news outlet.

Trump’s comments came after the Wall Street Journal ​reported on Wednesday that Ratcliffe had traveled to Moscow to warn Russia off any ​attack on a NATO member.

Two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters that Ratcliffe did bring ‌up ⁠the possibility of a Russian operation against a NATO member during that meeting, though it was unclear if that was the sole purpose of the trip.

One source said they discussed several topics, including Russia’s support for Iran, which has proven an irritant ​for the U.S. The ​sources were granted ⁠anonymity to discuss U.S. intelligence.

European and U.S. intelligence officials have long monitored Russian sabotage and gray zone attacks in Europe that ​fall below the threshold of full-on war and which are generally aimed ​at weakening ⁠NATO’s unity and its member states’ willingness to support Ukraine against Russian aggression.

Among the potential plots that Western intelligence officials have been monitoring in recent months is the possibility ⁠that Russia ​uses a Ukrainian drone to attack a country in ​eastern or northeastern Europe in a false flag operation that obscures Moscow’s authorship.

Nearly 1,500 people including at least 800 foreigners are missing across Nepal and China’s Tibet, authorities said on Thursday, after a wall of mud and rock collapsed into a Himalayan river, ​sending catastrophic floods through towns and valleys.

Rescuers in Nepal used helicopters to search for survivors and drop emergency supplies to thousands cut off after Wednesday’s disaster swept a rugged ‌mountainous region thronged by trekkers and pilgrims linking Lhasa in Tibet with the Nepalese capital of Kathmandu. Police said they expected the death toll to rise beyond 165, Reuters reported.

“This will go up, as we have resumed the search and more bodies are expected to be recovered,” police spokesperson Abi Narayan Kafle told Reuters.

Almost 600 foreigners were among 826 people missing in Nepal, police and tourism officials said.

Among the missing tourists from more than two dozen countries, 177 were from India, 63 were from the United States, ​34 from Australia, 33 from Britain and 25 from Canada.

The tally of missing in Tibet’s Gyirong county was 558, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said on Thursday, including 260 foreign nationals.

Verified videos showed crushing ​masses of water and debris sweeping away dozens of people at a border crossing in Gyirong, with homes, roads and power projects washed away further downstream ⁠in Nepal.

“It was a huge gush of mud coming straight towards us,” said Keshav Prasad Baral, a 68-year-old survivor being treated in hospital.

“As it got closer, it kept rising higher and higher. When I saw it ​enter our home, I tried to grab my wife’s hand and take her to the terrace. But she was swept away by the mud.”

A helicopter ferried him to safety four hours later. “My wife is still somewhere beneath ​the mud,” he added. “She’s gone.”

Another survivor said he saved himself by clinging to a mango tree as he watched the house where he had been working disappear.

EMERGENCY DELIVERIES BEGIN

In the hardest-hit districts, helicopters are dropping tents, food and other emergency supplies provided by neighbouring India, said Raja Ram Basnet, a spokesperson for Nepal’s army. More than 5,000 army and police rescue personnel were mobilised to look for survivors and find bodies.

Early reports from Nepali officials suggested an earthquake in the area ​could have caused the lower part of a glacier to collapse and trigger the floods.

The U.S. Geological Survey said an earthquake with magnitude initially reported as 4.4 was in fact seismic energy generated by the collapse of ​glacial rock and ice, followed by debris flow.

Chinese authorities have identified risks from a still-dammed lake located in Gyirong, upstream from the mudslide and flood-stricken Tibet-Nepal border crossing that could significantly complicate rescue efforts in the mountainous site, CCTV reported ‌on Thursday.

Many of ⁠the victims were making a pilgrimage to Kailash Mansarovar, a high-altitude site in Tibet revered by Hindus and Buddhists among others.

Mount Kailash, which Hindus believe to be the abode of Lord Shiva, lies on the banks of Lake Mansarovar, also held sacred in various religions.

The U.S. State Department said it was sending a disaster response adviser and providing assistance of $500,000.

Canada was also closely following the situation, Prime Minister Mark Carney said on X, describing the floods as “absolutely devastating”.

U.N. teams and partners were sending supplies and personnel to support affected Nepali communities, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said details on the disaster were scant.

“Nepal … is a developing country,” he ​said. “It doesn’t have the resources that an event like ​that would have in Australia, so information is ⁠difficult.”

Sagar Pandey, the chief executive of a Himalayan tourism operator, said 15 Indian-Australians on a pilgrimage tour with the company were missing.

“There are no human-made things, no human settlement left. Everything is just flat,” he told Reuters after flying over the zone in a helicopter. “So anyone in the hotel, the restaurant, or the car, I ​believe that everybody is gone.”

VIDEOS SHOW PEOPLE SWEPT AWAY WHILE FLEEING

Security footage captured on the Chinese side of the border showed many people fleeing from a ​torrent of rock, mud and ⁠water that destroyed buildings and vehicles.

People seeking information about family members missing from the affected areas of Nuwakot and Dhading gathered outside a Nepali army training centre that was the base for helicopter rescue operations, the images showed.

In the affected areas, layers of mud metres thick swathed homes, trees and vehicles. Helicopters ferrying survivors hovered overhead all day.

An initial study of Planet Labs satellite imagery showed a landslide of ice and rock unleashed a flood carrying debris in ⁠the Lhende River, ​about 20 km (12 miles) northeast of the Nepal-China Rasuwagadhi border crossing, Nepal disaster management officials said on X.

Television images showed collapsed ​homes, floating cars and a metal bridge being washed away, while witnesses said the waters engulfed entire villages.

“There is devastation everywhere we look,” said Tula Bahadur BK, a health worker in Rasuwa.

“The settlements next to the river have been completely swept away. Five of my ​own relatives are missing.