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Trump escalates economic pressure
U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to “collapse Iran” by deploying economic warfare on an “unprecedented scale,” urging allies and China to join a campaign that he said would otherwise bring “tough consequences.”
“urging them to join the economic campaign to "collapse Iran"”
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC, “It is going to work in Iran and we are going to collapse this regime,” and said Washington expects a “greatest coordinated economic isolation in the history of the world.”
Iran dismissed the threat as “economic terrorism,” with Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi calling the “Economic D-Day” a diversion from “unprecedented debt and surging interest costs.”
The U.S. threat came as talks with Iran were on hold, with the war started by the US and Israel on February 28 described as at a stalemate, and Tehran keeping the Strait of Hormuz partially shut while Washington persists with a naval counter-blockade of Iran.
Allies, China, and Russia
Al Jazeera reported that Trump threatened to financially punish any country providing an economic “lifeline” to Iran, while analysts said his leverage over China and Russia is limited and that it would be “very difficult” to pull off the pressure campaign effectively.
Georgetown University in Qatar associate professor Paul Musgrave told Al Jazeera, “it is going to be very difficult,” and said Trump is trying to unilaterally assert coordinated sanctions that “traditionally has taken multilateral coordination.”
China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian responded that more sanctions would “not help to solve the issue,” and said “China calls on relevant parties to take responsible measures and solve the issues through diplomatic and political means.”
Al Jazeera also said Russia presents a different challenge, noting that in January 2025 the two heavily sanctioned states signed a 20-year partnership treaty and that Russian Energy Minister Sergey Tsivilev said it helped boost trade volume to $4.8bn in the first 11 months of 2025.
What’s at stake next
CBS News said Vice President JD Vance described the conflict as entering a “new phase” of economic pressure, arguing, “We're going to keep that going because we think that's the best way to ultimately accomplish the final objective here.”
“We're going to keep that going because we think that's the best way”
CBS News also reported that the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln was headed home after a nine-month deployment, while the USS George Washington arrived in the Middle East on Wednesday, as the U.S. shifted emphasis to economic pressure.
France 24 said the U.S. urged allies and China to join the campaign to isolate Iran’s economy, and quoted Bessent saying, “Any remaining tie to Tehran will hasten a nation's economic oblivion.”
The same France 24 report said Iran’s foreign ministry blasted the U.S. threats as “economic terrorism” and “crimes against humanity,” and it framed the dispute as coming amid a stalemate in the war and growing domestic criticism.