President Trump launched his campaign of “maximum
pressure” on Iran this week, said Ellen Wald
in Bloomberg.com, but it had a surprising loophole.
Trump withdrew the U.S. from participation
in an Obama-era nuclear accord with Iran in May,
and promised to force Iran into renegotiating that
deal with new economic sanctions barring other
countries from trading with Iran or buying its oil.
When the U.S. reimposed sanctions this week, it
exempted eight countries, including Iran’s six biggest
oil customers. Why? It will keep more Iranian
oil on world markets than expected, protecting
American consumers from a sudden rise in gas
and oil prices. Trump’s hard-liners are digging in
for “a long, cold war with Iran,” said Michael
Gordon in The Wall Street Journal. They believe
that by barring Iran from the world banking system
and reducing its exports, the U.S. will badly
weaken the already shaky Iranian economy, forcing
Tehran to pull back on its financial support for
its proxy groups in Syria, Yemen, and Iraq. Iran,
meanwhile, hopes “to ride out the sanctions in the
hope that Trump is a one-term president.”
This is maximum pressure? asked Philip Klein in
WashingtonExaminer.com. Trump said the U.S.
was done making “empty threats,” yet the oilsanctions
exemptions will allow billions to continue
to flow into the mullahs’ coffers. The administration
also stopped short of completely cutting
Iran off from the international banking system,
saying certain Iranian financial institutions could
still use it for “humanitarian” reasons. If Trump
is going to cushion the blow of sanctions, then
“what was the point” of ditching Obama’s deal?
Trump fears the political consequences of a
true hardball strategy, said Nick Cunningham
in Foreign Policy.com. Oil prices are up about
10 percent since Trump nixed the nuclear deal
and took about 800,000 barrels of Iranian oil off
the market. “American motorists are paying more
at the pump—about $2.80 nationally—than at
almost any time in the past four years.” That’s
causing “the administration to squirm.” Trump’s
strategy had another “huge flaw,” said Josh Rogin
in WashingtonPost.com. Squeezing Iran’s economy
requires cooperation from other countries, yet
China is still buying Iranian oil and has no intention
of stopping. This gives Chinese President Xi
Jinping another weapon in his ongoing strategic
battle with the White House. Iran, meanwhile,
gets some of the money it needs “to wait out the
Trump administration.”
