{"id":1503,"date":"2026-08-25T14:20:48","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T14:20:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/2026\/08\/25\/latest-sanctions-on-iran-risk-strengthening-tehran-and-undermining-us-credibility\/"},"modified":"2026-08-25T14:20:48","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T14:20:48","slug":"latest-sanctions-on-iran-risk-strengthening-tehran-and-undermining-us-credibility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/2026\/08\/25\/latest-sanctions-on-iran-risk-strengthening-tehran-and-undermining-us-credibility\/","title":{"rendered":"Latest sanctions on Iran risk strengthening Tehran and undermining US credibility"},"content":{"rendered":"

The United States has announced its latest plan to put maximum economic pressure on Iran. Launching \u201cOperation Economic Outcast\u201d<\/a> on August 24, the US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, said the plan would involve the \u201ctoughest sanctions in history\u201d<\/a> against Iran. <\/p>\n

The US objective is ambitious. To economically isolate Tehran, punish countries that continue trading with it and achieve through financial pressure what nearly six months of military confrontation<\/a> have failed to deliver. Bessent said this would mean cutting any countries continuing to trade with Iran out of the dollar system. <\/p>\n

\u201cAny nation that serves as a financial artery of a withering regime should expect to share in its isolation,\u201d he said<\/a>. \u201cTo become a sanctuary for terror is to become, in the eyes of the United States, a global pariah.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked whether the same measures would apply to China, which accounts for the majority of Iran\u2019s oil exports, Bessent said that no country \u201cis above the reach of US sanctions\u201d<\/a>. China, meanwhile, said it was firmly opposed to \u201cillicit unilateral sanctions\u201d. It has warned it will retaliate<\/a> if any Chinese companies are hit by the expanded US sanctions regime.<\/p>\n

Cutting China out of the US dollar system would be likely to cause catastrophic disruption<\/a> to global markets. It would immediately curtail trade between the US and China, causing severe shortages of retail goods and medical supplies in the US and leading to sharp rises in unemployment in China as a result of factory closures. There would also be a risk that China could liquidate its US debt holdings, prompting a spike in interest rates.<\/p>\n

But quite apart from how risky this move would be in terms of global economic disruption, Iran has spent more than four decades learning how to survive US sanctions in various forms. Iran\u2019s economy minister, Seyed Ali Madanizadeh, acknowledged this when he responded to the US announcement<\/a> by saying that Tehran has been \u201cwaiting for these plans for a long time, and the government is and was ready and has a two-year plan to manage these events\u201d.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s economy has suffered greatly since the US reimposed wide-ranging sanctions in 2018 after pulling the US out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action nuclear deal<\/a> signed during the administration of his predecessor, Barack Obama. Obama had used sanctions and the promise of sanctions relief in the negotiations, which culminated in the 2015 nuclear agreement. So there\u2019s no doubt of the power of sanctions as a tool of diplomacy under certain circumstances.<\/p>\n

But Iran has also become experienced at circumventing economic restrictions. Oil can move through opaque trading arrangements. Payments can travel through intermediaries and exchange houses. Front companies substitute for conventional businesses. Tankers change names, flags and ownership structures.<\/p>\n

The results are striking. Despite extensive American sanctions in 2025, China purchased approximately 1.38 million barrels of Iranian oil per day<\/a> in 2025 through a trading system designed to resist US financial pressure. This represents more than 13% of the total<\/a> of oil it imported by sea.<\/p>\n

Every additional sanction imposed on Iran creates another incentive to develop mechanisms capable of circumventing the next one. Iran has not defeated sanctions. It has learned to live within them.<\/p>\n

Military power also limited<\/h2>\n

Military force presents a similar problem<\/a>. US and Israeli attacks have inflicted enormous damage on Iranian infrastructure and military capabilities. Yet nearly six months into the conflict, the lack of success of its military campaign appears to be forcing Washington to return to \u2013 and double down on \u2013 economic coercion to achieve its political objectives.<\/p>\n

Military pressure may actually reinforce Tehran\u2019s longstanding strategic calculation. Iran cannot match the US conventionally, so it has relied on its ability to weaponise geography via its control of the Strait of Hormuz<\/a>. And it\u2019s this leverage, basically, that has caused the military stalemate.<\/p>\n

Before the present conflict, approximately 20.9 million barrels of oil passed through the strait each day \u2013 equivalent to around 20% of global petroleum consumption and one-quarter of internationally traded maritime oil. Existing Saudi and Emirati pipelines bypass only a fraction of that volume.<\/p>\n

Traffic through Hormuz is now around 90% below pre-conflict levels<\/a>. And the implications extend beyond Iran. In August, Iran granted special permission for Iraqi oil tankers to pass through the strait<\/a> following diplomatic efforts by Baghdad. Iraq \u2013 one of the world\u2019s great oil producers \u2013 effectively required Tehran\u2019s consent to move some of its own oil through the Gulf.<\/p>\n

This dramatically complicates secondary sanctions. Washington can threaten countries with exclusion from American markets if they continue trading with Iran. Tehran can now demonstrate that countries supporting American economic warfare may face consequences affecting the energy routes upon which their economies depend.<\/p>\n

Making Iran poorer not the same as making it weaker<\/h2>\n

None of this means sanctions are harmless. They can devastate living standards, accelerate inflation and place enormous pressure on ordinary Iranians. And there can be little doubt that Iran\u2019s economy is suffering at present. Inflation is currently running at 66%, according to official data<\/a> from the Statistical Centre of Iran reported by Iranian Labour News Agency. The rial now stands at a historic low of more than 2 million to the US dollar<\/a> on the open market.<\/p>\n

But impoverishing a country and changing the strategic behaviour of its government are different objectives. Iran\u2019s history suggests that pressure repeatedly produces adaptation: alternative markets, financial networks, missiles, drones and relationships with regional actors.<\/p>\n

The lesson of the Obama period is therefore easily misunderstood. Sanctions were most successful not when they became an end in themselves, but when pressure ultimately produced diplomacy and the 2015 nuclear agreement.<\/p>\n

Sanctions can provide leverage for negotiation. But when sanctions become the strategy itself, Washington risks repeating a familiar mistake. It may make Iran considerably poorer. It should not assume that makes Iran weaker.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The United States has announced its latest plan to put maximum economic pressure on Iran. Launching \u201cOperation Economic Outcast\u201d on August 24, the US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, said the plan would involve the \u201ctoughest sanctions in history\u201d against Iran. The US objective is ambitious. To economically isolate Tehran, punish countries that continue trading with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1503"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1503\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}