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US President Donald Trump speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on Wednesday (local time). [AP]
US President Donald Trump speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on Wednesday (local time). [AP]

US President Donald Trump announced Wednesday (local time) that he would launch an unprecedented "economic isolation campaign" against Iran.

Trump warned that third countries providing financial lifelines to Iran would also pay "enormous economic consequences," pressing the international community to halt all dealings with Tehran.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump said, "No one has given Iran more chances to make a deal than me. Tragically, they missed those chances."

He then declared, "I am announcing the most lethal economic operation ever taken against any country — it will be an economic war and isolation effort of unprecedented scale."

Trump added that "every country that allows its financial institutions, companies, airports, or government agencies to provide any form of lifeline to Iran will pay an enormous economic price."

He specifically cited oil smuggling, monetary swaps, cash transfers, ship registrations and the use of shell companies — methods Iran and third countries have used to evade existing sanctions — and urged that "all such activity must stop immediately."

Trump declared Wednesday Iran's "economic D-Day" and urged "all allies to join the United States in isolating and defeating Iran."

"These lunatics are cornered, and these historic measures will neutralize them and their ability to spread terror around the world," he said. "Iran will never have a nuclear weapon."

The move signals Trump's intent to cut off Iran's funding and sanctions-evasion channels on a broad front — not only by isolating Tehran economically but by penalizing any country that does business with it. The goal appears to be squeezing Iran, already under severe economic strain from the war, into making concessions on its nuclear program and other issues.

The Trump administration had been working behind the scenes through intermediaries to reach an agreement with Iran after the ceasefire MOU between the two sides was in effect rendered void.

With a negotiated breakthrough now seen as unlikely in the near term, the administration appears to have concluded that maximum economic pressure — cutting off Iran's funding and sanctions-evasion routes — is the lever most likely to force a change in Tehran's posture.

Earlier, Trump said Wednesday that there were "no talks or dialogue underway with Iran, and none scheduled."


mokiya@heraldcorp.com