US President Donald Trump has announced what he describes as the “most crushing economic operation” against Iran, as Washington ramps up pressure on Tehran and talks to end the war between the two countries continue to stall. In a post on Truth Social on Wednesday, Trump said Iran had “failed to take” the opportunity to make a deal, and would face “economic warfare and isolation on an unprecedented scale”. He also threatened sanctions against any country that does business with Iran.
This will be an ECONOMIC D-DAY, and we need all of our Allies to stand with the United States of America to isolate, and defeat, the Iran threat.” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi dismissed Trump’s latest threats of economic sanctions, calling it a “diversion from America’s own crisis: unprecedented debt & surging interest costs”. US economic terrorism threatens global economy and sovereignty worldwide,” he wrote on X. Iran’s state media outlets also dismissed Trump’s announcement as nothing new.
The IRIB state broadcaster said the US president’s comments followed “the failure of military aggression” while the semi-official Tasnim news agency said the announcement was “not a new development”. It added that the US “has been trying for years to block any financial and economic ties with Iran” but that Tehran has “learned how to circumvent these restrictions and has become very skilled at doing so”. On Wednesday, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced an indefinite trade embargo on Iran, accusing Iranian forces of firing two ballistic missiles at its territory this week.
Also this week, Tajikistan and Iran finalised an agreement which would enable Tehran to export oil to Dushanbe. So can Trump actually stop other countries from trading with Iran? Iran is a member of the OPEC oil producers group and oil is its major export.
Before the war, Tehran exported roughly 1.3 million to 1.5 million barrels of crude oil per day, earning about $115m a day – or $3.45bn per month – in early February. In May, crude oil exports fell to their lowest level in at least six years, at below 300,000bpd, with the ongoing US naval blockade on Iranian ports squeezing Tehran’s most important source of income. The US has also reimposed sanctions on Iranian oil, the Department of the Treasury announced Tuesday.
During the war, Trump temporarily waived sanctions on oil cargoes already at sea to ease the energy crisis arising from the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. The US granted Iran a 60-day full waiver, allowing Tehran to sell crude oil amid the ongoing peace talks as part of the June Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the US and Iran that expired on August 21. On Wednesday, Iran’s Central Bank Governor Abdolnaser Hemmati said the country’s oil exports have fallen amid the war and sanctions, but that authorities had prepared for revenue losses.
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