That has included US aircraft carriers. The Pentagon has pulled a key asset away from China<\/a>, dispatching the USS George Washington from Japan to relieve the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Gulf, whose sailors have been at sea for months longer than planned because of the war.<\/p>\n Key US bases in the region \u2013 including the Navy\u2019s Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain \u2013 have been damaged or become unsafe for use, adding hundreds of kilometres to supply lines as ships look as far away as the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia for sourcing.<\/p>\n \u201cIn my judgement, the US Armed Forces have probably permanently lost access to 15 Persian Gulf bases,\u201d retired US Army four-star general Barry R McCaffrey wrote on X.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it became clear the US is running out of runway on this, so the administration pivoted to what it knows best, or has perceived as effective in the past, which is these economic tools,\u201d said Jamal Abdi, head of the NIAC. \u201cReally, it\u2019s a way for the administration to scale back to where it was before this war but present it as this new enhanced pressure policy.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018Why would I want to blow up the global financial system?\u2019<\/p>\n Instead of hitting Iran and others doing business with it, Monday\u2019s sanctions announcement turned out to be little more than yet another warning, analysts say. While the US Department of the Treasury did sanction 60 new individuals and entities from around the globe over their business with Iran, it did not include major Chinese banks or others that help Tehran sell its oil.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n At least 90 percent of Iran\u2019s crude oil exports end up in China, netting Tehran tens of billions of dollars in revenue. Ending that trade would need the US to confront China far more directly than it is willing to do. In fact, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent admitted exactly that on Monday, when he responded to a question from reporters about why the US did not immediately announce sanctions on Chinese entities long known to facilitate oil trade.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy would I want to blow up the global financial system?\u201d Bessent responded.<\/p>\n \u201cTo me, it\u2019s more a psychological operation than an actual warfare,\u201d Sina Azodi, assistant professor of Middle East Politics at the George Washington University, told Al Jazeera. \u201cIt will have an impact, there\u2019s no question, and I\u2019m sure it\u2019s going to scare off people and affect Iran\u2019s economy by creating more chaos and adding uncertainty \u2026 but I don\u2019t think it will ultimately change Iranian calculations in the short term.\u201d<\/p>\n Pain for the Iranian people, gain for Washington?<\/p>\n The new US measures seek to expand the scope of already broad restrictions against the Iranian economy, adding the possibility of secondary sanctions against non-Iranian entities dealing with sectors like digital assets, gold, technology, aviation and shipping.<\/p>\n Tensions with Washington have already forced Iranians to contend<\/a> with things like shortages of medicine and higher fuel prices<\/a>. Many of the new sectors being targeted are crucial for common Iranians looking to find ways around previous sanctions, analysts point out. Gold can help preserve wealth as the Iranian rial tumbles. Digital assets like cryptocurrencies let relatives send and receive money across borders. Airlines let Iranians visit relatives abroad, or check on loved ones inside the country.<\/p>\n Quincy Institute\u2019s Parsi said he doubts new sanctions would have an impact on the Iranian government, but they will on the Iranian people.<\/p>\n \u201cI think they will likely be quite impactful and painful for the Iranian people,\u201d he said. \u201cBut translating that pain into a shift in their policy is a completely different thing.\u201d<\/p>\n He pointed out that the Trump administration has long known how Tehran reacts to attempts to squeeze it economically. During his first term in 2019, Trump was engaged in an online war with Iran, and economic measures tried to exert more pressure on Tehran, prompting Iran-backed Houthi forces to hit tankers in the Gulf as well as oilfields in Saudi Arabia<\/a>.<\/p>\n Experts say if Iran\u2019s back is against the wall, it will retaliate.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the point of these sanctions is to force them to capitulate, then from what we see in the past, the Iranians would rather escalate than capitulate,\u201d Parsi said.<\/p>\n The attempted use of new sanctions will end up further exposing the limits of US power in the conflict, said the Center for International Policy\u2019s Mortazavi.<\/p>\n \u201cThe sanctions will deepen the economic pain facing ordinary Iranians. But years of maximum pressure have shown that economic hardship does not automatically translate into political capitulation,\u201d she said. \u201cIf anything, this move exposes the limits of the war: Washington can continue raising the costs for Iran, but it has yet to force Tehran to change course.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"INTERACTIVE](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/INTERACTIVE-IRAN-EXPORT-IMPORT-POSTER-1787644989.png\")
[Al Jazeera]<\/p>\n