Right, so, the orange menace currently passing himself off as the US President, and in his signature style, has now launched something called Operation Economic Outcast.
Nearly 60 sanctions targets across five sectors. Anyone still doing business with Iran is now facing threats that amount to the financial equivalent of being shoved into school locker after having your head flushed down a loo.
Unfortunately for the thuggish Trump, the Treasury avoided targeting the major Chinese banks it would need to confront if it truly intended to choke off Iran's oil trade.
And when Treasury sycophant Scott Bessent was asked why they had not simply imposed the harshest sanctions immediately, he came out with this. "Well, we are allowing everyone to remedy bad behaviour. Why would I want to blow up the global financial system?" Lovely. Wall Street can rest easy.
Apparently, Economic D-Day now comes with a risk assessment, a waiver form, and maybe even a particularly robust stress ball.
Trump's Treasury is going to cut every economic lifeline to Iran, at least until it looks like it might end up hurting itself in the process.
Before turning to China, though, it is worth listening to what Bessent actually promised, because this was not just a matter of adding a bit more pressure, another sanction, and a strongly worded letter.
This was presented as total isolation. "Today, in that same spirit, we are launching an economic onslaught against Iran's financial connections around the globe. Our objective is to sever every economic lifeline that sustains this tyrannical regime until Tehran stands alone." That is quite a promise. About as credible as a Trump University diploma, and just as likely to end in disappointment.
