U.S. Unveils ‘Economic D-Day’ Against Iran

Filed 1d ago · Via Foreign Policy · The Buffoon Desk

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Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

Photo: Raimond Spekking · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent unveiled 'Operation Economic Outcast,' threatening secondary sanctions on any country or entity still doing business with Iran, including new sanctions on nearly 60 individuals, entities and vessels tied to Iran's nuclear, missile, cyber and oil programs. An unnamed major financial institution is reportedly set to be sanctioned by week's end.

Bessent vowed to sever 'every economic pipeline' sustaining Tehran until it 'stands alone,' while declining to specify which countries face sanctions, though China — which buys over 80 percent of Iran's shipped oil — is widely seen as the target. Trump had previously claimed without evidence that Iran's navy and air force are 'entirely destroyed' and its currency worthless; the rial hit an all-time low of 2.02 million to the dollar Monday.

Iran's chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf dismissed the threats as 'bombast,' arguing the U.S. isn't positioned to further restrict its own relations with other countries. Iran's military, meanwhile, continues attacking commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

✒ FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK

There is something touching about naming a policy as though the branding were the plan, then declining to say which nations it applies to — a threat so universal it becomes a rumor. When an administration promises to sever every pipeline and refuses to identify a single one, it is not building leverage, it is building a press release with a countdown clock. The desk will believe in “economic D-Day” when someone tells us where the beach is.

Source: Read the original at Foreign Policy → Scored: Pixel Peeker Polka - faster · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0

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