US escalates economic war on Iran
The US administration is upping the economic pressure in the conflict with Iran. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent reiterated on Monday President Trump's "economic D-Day" threat, stressing that the goal is to cut Iran off from all sources of income, and called on countries that maintain trade ties with Iran to immediately suspend them.
The sabre-rattling of a desperate man
Dnevnik sees no immediate danger:
“The sanctions threats are, in fact, rather vague, in that there is no clear deadline by which they would come into force, or explanation of which countries would be affected. This suggests that the US is once again rattling its economic sabre as a pre-emptive measure, before it is really prepared to swing it and once again destabilise the global financial order. The announcement of new US sanctions and the call for countries worldwide to take the necessary action themselves is thus yet another cry for help from a desperate man in the wilderness of the Persian Gulf. The US administration wants to avoid a complete fiasco and return from the mouth of the Strait of Hormuz with its head held reasonably high.”
Fanciful at best
Trump's threat won't have the desired effect, says The Irish Times:
“There is little reason to believe that it will shorten the war, as Trump promised. Nor will it help, ahead of the US midterm elections, to bring down prices at petrol pumps, now as much a function of the global shortage of refining capacity as of crude oil shortages. ... The idea that the US can quickly cut off Iran's imports and exports, or its access to cash, is fanciful. ... Trump's new offensive will inflict more pain on Iran, but is likely to fail as surely as his military campaign, which has run into the sand.”
Sanctions won't achieve their goal
The Neue Zürcher Zeitung criticises the US sanctions strategy as inconsistent:
“It assumes that under pressure the regime will either have to collapse or be prepared to make concessions it has previously rejected. These would include abandoning the nuclear programme, surrendering highly enriched uranium, limiting the missile programme, ceasing funding for foreign militias, and allowing free passage through the Strait of Hormuz. But this is wishful thinking. Tehran is now convinced that Trump's ultimate goal is to overthrow the regime. Why should it give up precisely those arms programmes and instruments of power that are supposed to protect it from future American attacks?”
Trump is underestimating Tehran
Iran is adept at circumventing trade blockades, columnist Pierre Haski explains on France Inter:
“Donald Trump is underestimating his opponent. Iran has been living under economic sanctions for decades. Alongside North Korea, it is the country subject to the most sanctions in the world. Even though it has lost the hub of Dubai through which its financial transactions used to pass, it knows how to circumvent bans. Iran shares land borders with many countries, including Turkey and Pakistan, and the Caspian Sea forms its border with Russia. So it has numerous routes via which it can evade US control.”
An amusing soap opera for Beijing
The consequences of Trump's threats would be so severe that he won't follow through on them, De Standaard is convinced:
“It looks like we are watching yet another Trump soap opera in which the president first pulls out a giant bazooka, only to realise that the risk of shooting himself in the foot is far too great. The spectacle will then end just as abruptly as it began. In Beijing, this behaviour will gradually come to be seen as ridiculous and pathetic. The man who wants to be regarded as the most powerful man in the world is once again losing his credibility as a geopolitical power broker.”