Overview
- President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that the United States will launch what he called an unprecedented economic offensive that threatens penalties on any country, bank, company, airport, or government that helps Iran.
- Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent publicly pressed allies and explicitly appealed to China to join the campaign, saying it will be the largest coordinated operation of isolation and that details will be revealed at a near‑term briefing.
- The administration frames the shift to “maximum” economic pressure as a way to reduce the chance of renewed large‑scale military operations, but officials have not yet published the concrete list of new sanctions or the exact secondary measures.
- Iran condemned the plan as “economic terrorism,” its negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said the Strait of Hormuz will stay closed until U.S. commitments in the June protocol are met, and the UAE suspended commercial and financial exchanges after accusing Iran of firing two missiles at shipping.
- The campaign builds on years of U.S. sanctions and faces practical limits because Iran uses shadow tanker fleets and alternative payment channels, meaning its success hinges on whether major partners—especially China and Gulf states—agree to enforce the measures.