Trump vows 'most crushing economic operation' on Iran — SkimNews
SkimNews Take
Secondary sanctions convert bilateral pressure into a multilateral allegiance test, requiring Iran's trading partners to choose between US market access and their own commercial relationships — a leverage model that depends on how indispensable the American economy remains to those third parties.
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- Donald Trump posted on Truth Social in all capital letters that he is launching "the most crushing economic operation ever taken against any country" against Iran and "ANY country" that provides economic lifelines, without naming specific nations or specifying punishments.
- The UAE, a US ally, announced one day before Trump's post that it was severing all financial and economic ties with Iran after its defence ministry detected two Iranian ballistic missiles targeting maritime traffic, both of which landed in the sea.
- China, though unnamed in Trump's post, is the biggest buyer of Iranian oil; the US has sanctioned several "teapot refineries" in Shandong province since the war began, prompting China's Ministry of Commerce to call the sanctions "in violation of international law" and order non-compliance.
- Iran's armed forces warned neighbouring Gulf states that any support to the US military would be "considered collusion," while Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi dismissed Trump's threat as "a diversion" from America's own economic problems.
- The US Treasury's Operation Economic Fury, launched in April with the Pentagon, aims to degrade Tehran's warfighting capability by cutting revenue streams and includes a naval blockade on Iranian exports, following an April sanctions wave on foreign banks and firms doing business with Iran.
- Trump reportedly threatened to bomb Oman — a US ally currently mediating separate US-Iran talks to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly 20% of the world's crude oil and LNG flows — if it "gets in the way" of negotiations.
Why it matters: With US midterm elections in November, Trump is under domestic pressure over war costs hitting consumers while Iran has simultaneously choked Strait of Hormuz traffic and raised global energy prices since fighting began — meaning the "most crushing" sanctions campaign is being announced after six months of military action that failed to topple Tehran or break its Hormuz leverage, and while Oman is quietly mediating a parallel diplomatic track Trump himself has threatened to bomb.
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