Declaring ‘economic d-day,’ Trump says any country trading with Iran will be sanctioned
Times of Israel · LC · trust 45/100
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday declared “ECONOMIC D-DAY” against Iran, warning that any country doing business with the Islamic Republic will face “TREMENDOUS economic consequences.”
“Oil smuggling, swap lines, cash transfers, exchange houses, ship registries, front companies — It all needs to stop NOW. You know who you are,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social Post. “No one has given the Islamic Republic of Iran a greater opportunity to make a deal than me. TRAGICALLY, for them, they have failed to take it.”
On Tuesday, Trump declared that he was not interested in talks with Iran, but by Wednesday, he said he was open to resuming them.
“Therefore, today, I am announcing the MOST CRUSHING ECONOMIC OPERATION EVER TAKEN AGAINST ANY COUNTRY!” Trump said.
The US president has made countless threats of devastating force and economic sanctions against Iran, only to walk those back, while claiming progress in negotiations toward a diplomatic agreement.
This time, Trump insisted, it “will be economic warfare and isolation on an unprecedented scale.”
“Today, I am also announcing that ANY country that allows its financial institutions, businesses, airports or government entities to provide any type of lifeline to Iran will itself face TREMENDOUS economic consequences,” he said. “This will be an ECONOMIC D-DAY, and we need all of our allies to stand with the United States of America to isolate and defeat the Iran threat.”
“These maniacs are on the ropes, and these HISTORIC MEASURES will cripple them and their ability to project terror worldwide,” he writes, without describing what the measures actually are. “IRAN WILL NEVER HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON.”
The intensified economic pressure campaign comes as the war nears its sixth month with no immediate diplomatic or military off-ramp in sight and the vital Strait of Hormuz still significantly choked-off. With November elections quickly approaching, Trump is also facing renewed domestic scrutiny over the war’s costs on US consumers and toll on the military.
Trump did not elaborate on what he would do to countries that continue doing business with Iran, which would appear to include US allies that have helped mediate peace talks, and he did not list any country by name.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had similarly said last week that the US would soon be ramping up efforts at economically isolating Iran, as part of a two-pronged approach with a US naval blockade.
“It will be a combination of economic isolation, like the world has never seen before,” Bessent told conservative television network Newsmax.
The US Treasury has for months been carrying out an effort, dubbed Operation Economic Fury, aiming to cut off Iran’s funding with targeted sanctions.
Iran has struck a defiant tone, having survived months of US military operations that failed to bring a decisive end to the war and has — according to US media reports — severely drawn down US munition stockpiles. The Pentagon has denied these reports.
The conflict broke out on February 28 with US-Israeli attacks on the Islamic Republic, which retaliated with missile and drone strikes across the region.
Tehran’s missile and drone threat has severely curtailed shipping traffic through the strait, as a framework US-Iran deal to reopen it collapsed.
However, Trump earlier on Wednesday touted US military efforts to aid ships out of the strait, saying “right now, a lot of boats are coming through.”
Axios reported that US forces were facilitating the transit of 15 to 20 ships in and out of the Hormuz each night in recent weeks — carrying “roughly half the pre-war volume” of daily oil shipments, or some 10 million barrels.
“We have been controlling the southern lane of the Strait of Hormuz for two months now. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps can be a nuisance, but they don’t control the strait. We do,” a US official told the digital media outlet, which said the military operation to protect ships transiting the strait was preceded by strikes on radar and maritime surveillance sites that have rendered the Iranians largely “blind.”
In recent days, both sides have said messages were being exchanged, however Trump on Tuesday insisted talks were off and posted a message on social media suggesting the strait could be a “NEW US Territory.”
On Tuesday, the UAE announced that it was suspending all economic dealings with Iran after saying it had been targeted by two ballistic missiles.
The neighbors across the Gulf share deep cultural and historical ties, and the UAE — home to a sizable Iranian community — had been a major trading partner for US-sanctioned Iran, at least before the war.
“We need all of our Allies to stand with the United States of America to isolate, and defeat, the Iran threat,” Trump said Wednesday on Truth Social.
As a multimedia journalist, my job is to take the quality, fact-based journalism produced by The Times of Israel newsroom and make it accessible across every platform — from Instagram posts to podcasts to short-form videos.
This is how many, especially young people, consume news these days. But misinformation is rampant on social media. Our team at ToI produces accurate, responsible short-form reporting on Israel and the Jewish world.
If you believe in the importance of factual social media journalism , please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to sustain responsible multimedia reporting.
— Gabriella Jacobs, multimedia journalist
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of…
Read the original at Times of Israel →
Open in TruthVane →