The Trump administration is waging an unprecedented campaign to isolate Iran economically, combining a naval blockade with sweeping sanctions as top officials say the pressure will continue until Tehran changes course — or its government does.
Iran is down to roughly two months of gasoline as the U.S. blockade and President Donald Trump’s escalating economic offensive choke off the regime’s oil exports and remaining financial lifelines — a rapidly worsening crisis that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Friday branded the “Jaws of Death for the Iranian Economy.”
Vice President JD Vance declared Thursday that Iran’s control over the Strait of Hormuz is “effectively gone” and the strategic waterway is becoming a “diminishing asset,” pointing to surging oil flows as U.S. forces keep shipping lanes open and repeatedly destroy capabilities Tehran attempts to rebuild around them.
President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Iran’s regime is “getting weaker and weaker by the day” and suggested Tehran may be nearing the limits of what it can withstand under mounting U.S. pressure, one day after calling on Iranians to “rise up and fight.”
President Donald Trump said Monday night that he “couldn’t care less” whether Iran signs what he called a “worthless” agreement with the United States, declaring that Washington is better positioned with “almost total control” of the Strait of Hormuz as he called on the Iranian people to “rise up and fight.”
President Donald Trump signaled Monday that renewed U.S. military action against Iran would remain limited but warned Washington could still “smack” the Islamic Republic again, as he weighs a plan for additional strikes around the Strait of Hormuz following Tehran’s attack on American forces in Jordan.
Iranian “Supreme Leader” Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei called on Gulf states to unite against the United States and Israel as their “real enemy” in a written message Sunday, an overture to neighbors Tehran has spent months attacking and threatening as the Islamic Republic faces mounting military and economic pressure.
Nikki Haley, who served as President Trump’s U.N. ambassador at the time the U.S. withdrew from the Iran deal, blasted President Joe Biden
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Thursday urged the international community to lift economic sanctions on Afghanistan, warning that the country’s financial turmoil threatens to cause a “huge economic and security burden” for neighboring countries as refugees flee the country.
White House National Security adviser John Bolton has threatened sanctions against foreign banks dealing with the socialist regime in Venezuela, as the Trump administration steps up its efforts to remove dictator Nicolás Maduro from power.
North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho arrived in Beijing on Thursday on a three-day trip to secure China’s support for the removal of economic sanctions on the regime amid a lack of progress with denuclearisation talks with the United States.
North Korean state media declared on Friday that its economy is “miraculously” overcoming international sanctions, claiming that the world “marvels” now “at [its] unlimited national power and development potential.”
