Economic D-Day for Iran | Ahmed Khuzaie

The United States is launching what Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent calls the “single greatest financial offensive ever marshalled against an adversary” — an economic D-Day aimed at severing every remaining financial and commercial lifeline to Iran. Bahrain-based analyst Ahmed Khuzaie joins Israel in Ten to discuss whether Washington can really bring the Iranian economy to its knees — and whether Saudi Arabia is now considering a new defence pact involving Iran, Pakistan and Turkey.

Meanwhile, senior envoys from Oman and Pakistan are heading to Tehran as regional mediators try to keep diplomacy alive. Oman’s foreign minister is due for talks focused on the Strait of Hormuz, while Pakistan’s army chief — whose country has been mediating between Iran and the United States — is also expected. Iran has allowed some Iraqi oil tankers through the strategic waterway, but says a broader reopening still depends on Washington meeting its conditions.

Iranian state television has broadcast what appears to be a three-minute guide to targeting President Trump’s son Barron, including references to a ten-million-dollar reward. The report mapped his movements, online activity and social circle and depicted supposed attempts to penetrate Secret Service protection. It offered no evidence of any real plot, but follows a series of threats against Trump, First Lady Melania Trump and other senior US figures.

Israel and Syria have held high-level talks in Jordan just days after Israeli strikes on a military airbase in northwestern Syria. The meeting was held under US mediation, with Syria’s foreign minister and intelligence chiefs meeting an Israeli delegation reportedly led by Mossad chief Roman Gofman. One proposal would create a US-supervised communications mechanism in Jordan to prevent military confrontations in Syria, potentially involving Turkey as well.

And one of the most famous wrecks in Israeli history has finally been found. The Altalena — the Irgun arms ship shelled during the 1948 War of Independence — has been located intact around 20 kilometres off Israel’s coast, more than 500 metres beneath the Mediterranean. The confrontation over the ship and its weapons killed 19 people and became one of the most divisive episodes in Israel’s founding. Officials are now considering how to preserve the wreck after nearly eight decades on the seabed.

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