{"id":251021,"date":"2026-08-16T07:06:37","date_gmt":"2026-08-16T07:06:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/251021\/"},"modified":"2026-08-16T07:06:37","modified_gmt":"2026-08-16T07:06:37","slug":"how-the-us-could-squeeze-iran-with-economic-isolation-and-the-risks-involved","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/251021\/","title":{"rendered":"How the US could squeeze Iran with economic isolation \u2013 and the risks involved"},"content":{"rendered":"

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says the US is getting ready to squeeze Iran with unprecedented economic pressure, a claim critics greeted with scepticism given the country is already subject to a naval blockade and thousands of sanctions.<\/p>\n

While the Trump administration has not said what it is planning to do, there are still pressure points that Bessent\u2019s Treasury Department could hit. The main challenge is that targeting the remaining options risks blowback on the US economy.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnless the president decides to prioritise addressing the Iran threat over all other issues, and namely China, it\u2019s unlikely any action they take is going to materially change Iran\u2019s calculus,\u201d Bloomberg Economics analyst Chris Kennedy said.<\/p>\n

\"AA man rides past a billboard with a message that reads in Farsi: \u201cWe must rise up\u201d and an image of the late Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in Tehran, on Saturday. Photo: AP<\/p>\n

Below is a look at a few options. They are far from exhaustive and it remains unclear which, if any, the administration will pursue. Officials could combine several of these measures or opt for a different approach altogether.<\/p>\n

China buys more than 90 per cent of Iran\u2019s oil exports. Penalties on entities that facilitate these purchases would directly reduce Tehran\u2019s oil revenues.<\/p>\n

Washington has already sanctioned some Chinese teapot refineries and firms since the US started the war against Iran in late February. But so far, the US has stopped short of targeting the major Chinese banks that finance the trade.<\/p>\n

The risk is that hitting Chinese companies or financial institutions risks worsening tensions with Beijing ahead of a planned meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping. There is also an economic trade-off, since curtailing Iranian barrels would remove discounted crude from the global market and could lift already elevated oil prices.<\/p>\n

\"PetrolPetrol prices are seen listed as motorists make their way during the evening commute in California on Thursday. Photo: AFP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says the US is getting ready to squeeze Iran with unprecedented economic pressure, a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":251022,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[383,38,34,2246,55,69,3769,1176,272,15599,1705],"class_list":["post-251021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-iran","tag-beijing","tag-donald-trump","tag-iran","tag-north-korea","tag-russia","tag-tehran","tag-treasury-department","tag-turkey","tag-united-arab-emirates","tag-us-economy","tag-washington"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/117103924898159666","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251021"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251021\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/251022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}