Trump’s ‘Economic D-Day’ for Iran Comes Last

New York Times: “Ordinarily, Washington approaches a problem like dismantling Iran’s nuclear program with straightforward diplomacy. If that goes nowhere, officials mix in escalating economic sanctions, adding an element of coercion. Military action is a last resort, and only if the president determines that risking American lives is worth the possible benefit.”

“But Mr. Trump leaped from a brief round of diplomacy straight to bombing runs, meant to force the country to give up its stockpiles of 11 tons of enriched uranium — including a batch that was nearly bomb-ready — and perhaps collapse the government. The attacks failed at both objectives, at the cost of 18 American lives, hundreds or thousands of Iranians dead, and a price tag that independent analysts put at over $100 billion, though the Pentagon’s estimates are lower.”

“And only now are Mr. Trump and Mr. Bessent trying one more grand experiment, named Operation Economic Outcast, that the White House described as ‘an unprecedented campaign to sever every remaining economic lifeline sustaining the Islamic Republic of Iran.'”