President Trump said Wednesday that the United States will open a sweeping economic campaign against Iran and the states and companies that trade with it, describing the effort as an “Economic D-Day” and promising “the most crushing economic operation ever taken against any country.”
Writing on Truth Social, the president framed the move as the consequence of a settlement Tehran declined to take. “No one has given the Islamic Republic of Iran a greater opportunity to make a Deal than me,” he wrote, adding that “TRAGICALLY, for them, they have failed to take it.”
What distinguishes the announcement from previous rounds of pressure is its reach beyond Iran’s own borders. 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,” Trump wrote.
- Oil smuggling and the shadow tanker fleet that moves it
- Swap lines and cash transfers routed through third countries
- Exchange houses handling Iranian settlement
- Ship registries flagging Iranian-linked vessels
- Front companies used to disguise ownership and trade
“It all needs to stop NOW. You know who you are,” the president wrote of that list, calling on “our Allies to stand with the United States of America to isolate, and defeat, the Iran threat.”
A deadline that came and went
The declaration follows the expiry on Monday of the 60-day negotiating window created by the interim agreement signed in June. That period closed without a breakthrough, and on Tuesday the president indicated that no further talks with the regime are scheduled.
The US naval blockade of Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz “remains in full force and effect,” Trump said this week.
The president argued that the campaign lands on a state already reeling, saying Iran is “hanging by a thread” after American strikes that he said devastated its navy, air force and military infrastructure. “These maniacs are on the ropes, and these HISTORIC MEASURES will cripple them and their ability to project terror worldwide,” he wrote, closing the post with the line he has repeated throughout the confrontation: “IRAN WILL NEVER HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON.”
The post did not set out which authorities the administration intends to use, name the countries it has in mind, or say when the measures take effect. The White House did not immediately respond to questions about the operational detail.
Reporting in this story is based on the president’s public statements and on coverage by the New York Post, which first reported the announcement. The header photograph is a stock file image, not a photograph of the events described.
