By choking off the Strait of Hormuz to oil flowing from pro-US Persian Gulf countries, while still shipping a substantial amount of its own oil to China, Iran has effectively slapped painful sanctions on the US. If these de facto sanctions last, they will impose high economic costs on many Americans – and political costs on Donald Trump.
WASHINGTON, DC – The purpose of international sanctions is to impose economic pain on an adversary. If you are the United States, you do this by seizing assets or prohibiting transactions with particular countries, often targeting specific people or entities close to the targeted regime. Given the global reach of the dollar system, US sanctions are generally feared far and wide. But now the US is on the receiving end.
