US Targets Iran's Economic Partners to Cripple Regime Amid Sanctions

The United States has launched a new economic campaign against Iran with the explicit goal of toppling the regime. Unlike previous sanctions focused on Iran itself, this time Washington is targeting Iran's trade partners, including countries importing Iranian goods, companies signing agreements with Tehran, intermediaries, and financial institutions. The US demands the world choose between cooperating with it or with Iran, warning that any economic engagement with Iran will result in sanctions. Doron Paskin, an economic analyst, noted that sanctions have already begun affecting independent Chinese refineries importing Iranian oil, but the real test will be whether the US imposes sanctions on major Chinese banks and corporations.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has singled out traders, money changers, refineries, banks, and shipping companies as vulnerable if they continue dealings with Iran. This approach differs from past sanctions aimed at curbing Iran’s nuclear program, as the current strategy openly seeks to economically strangle the Iranian regime. China, with its extensive trade ties to Iran, is unlikely to fully comply, but other countries close to Iran, such as Turkey, Iraq, and Oman, face difficult choices. For example, Turkey may have to decide whether to stop importing Iranian natural gas, posing a significant challenge to regional relations.

Iran has developed sophisticated methods to circumvent sanctions over the past four decades, but experts believe the current measures will be harder and more costly to bypass. Dubai, which previously served as a key hub for Iran to evade sanctions, has recently severed all ties with Iranian entities following attacks on oil tankers, cutting off about 30% of Iran’s imports and closing banking and money exchange channels to Iranians.

Even before the sanctions took full effect, Iran’s currency, the rial, plunged while oil prices surged, signaling markets are bracing for a prolonged economic conflict. Iranian households face hardship as salaries paid in rials lose value. Within Iran, responses vary: the middle class and economic press advocate for measures like preserving foreign currency reserves, while the military leadership adopts a militant stance, warning that economic attacks will provoke military retaliation, raising the risk of renewed armed conflict.