Trump Launches 'Economic D-Day' Against Iran and Its Partners
President Trump announced what he called an “unprecedented” economic assault on Iran, warning that any country whose banks, businesses or airports offer Tehran a “lifeline” will face “tremendous economic consequences”. The threat of secondary sanctions targets Iran’s remaining buyers, chiefly China and India, and follows the UAE’s decision to sever all trade. Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, dismissed the “so-called Economic D-Day” and predicted “further defeat” for Washington.
The move escalates the war from a military and naval confrontation into a campaign of global economic coercion, aimed at choking off the trade that keeps Iran’s economy alive. Secondary sanctions, which punish third countries for dealing with Iran, are Washington’s most powerful financial weapon, but they risk friction with China and India, which have kept buying Iranian oil, and could unsettle a global economy already strained by the Hormuz blockade. Coming a day after the UAE cut all ties, it suggests a coordinated tightening of the noose, even as Mr Trump rules out fresh talks. Whether allies enforce the threat, and whether Tehran finds new workarounds, will decide its bite. Watch how Beijing and Delhi respond and where oil prices go next.