US-Iran peace agreement discussion, part 4

[RedTagAlan]

Thread 4 for those following and commenting on the above subject.

NBC news: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced plans for a wave of new sanctions Monday aimed at further isolating Iran, after threatening the Islamic Republic with “an economic D-Day.”

The sanctions will target international entities engaged in facilitating Iranian trade related to shipping, oil, crypto, gold and aviation.

He said President Donald Trump was making phone calls to world leaders with “specific requests” to cease trading with the Iranian regime.

Bessent said the U.S. was launching an “economic onslaught” against Iran’s financial connections “around the globe” in order to “sever every economic pipeline” used by Iran “until Tehran stands alone.”

Treasury announced Monday it is sanctioning nearly 60 corporations, individuals and vessels in multiple jurisdictions that it says enable the Iranian regime’s “recklessness.” That list includes multiple Chinese nationals.

China has said it is illegal for its citizens to comply with unilateral U.S. sanctions.

Bessent said the U.S. was engaging in “quiet diplomacy” with Iranian trade partners to warn them of the consequences for continuing to trade with Tehran.

Any entity that facilitates money laundering on behalf of Iran will be removed from the U.S. dollar system, he said.

“No one is above the reach of U.S. sanctions,” Bessent said, adding there was now a “cure period” for nations to end the targeted relations with Iran.

Yet Bessent did not lay out any immediate concrete actions against other countries. Markets showed little reaction to Bessent’s remarks.

www.nbcnews.com/business/economy/bessent-iran-sanctions-d-day-rcna594103

Whoops my post above mentioned the "c" word - the one that rhymes with hypno.

It was hidden for a bit by the automatic censorship of that word but visible again now.

A strict enforcement of the economic blockade would mean targeting Pakistan, the nation most deeply involved in trying to mediate between the two sides, and inevitably bring the US into fresh confrontation with China, the largest trading partner of Iran. Other nations thought to maintain trading links include Russia, Iraq and India.
(The Times)

One BBC analyst has already said of the briefing, that we've heard the economic threats but not the follow through.

Major financial institution to be sanctioned ‘by the end of this week’ over Iran

“You will see a major financial institution being sanctioned by the end of this week over Iran,” Bessent says.

“We are going to hold everyone accountable, and this is economic asphyxiation of this regime.”

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2026/8/24/iran-war-live-iranian-assembly-advances-plans-for-hormuz-service-fees

He also said he doesn't want to blow up the gloobal financial system 🤔

Scott Bessent defended the decision to hold off on issuing crippling sanctions targeting nations tied to Iran, casting the “economic D-Day” announced Monday as a “warning shot.”

“We believe that a warning shot and a level-set of expectations is appropriate,” Bessent told CNN’s Kevin Liptak at a press conference.

The US, he said, is “giving everyone the opportunity to remedy bad behavior,” adding that applying the sanctions immediately without any warning could “blow up the global financial system.”

Bessent added: “We believe that it is important to level-set and give people a cure period, but they should know that that will move very quickly and that we are serious.”

https://edition.cnn.com/2026/08/24/world/live-news/iran-war-trump

The Gulf perspective while also noting it's the ordinary Iranian people who will suffer most, and that it will be dangerous times for a regime having to deal with dissent.

Yet Iran has survived crushing international sanctions for decades.
Before the war, it continued exporting large quantities of oil, overwhelmingly to China, while building an elaborate sanctions-evasion system involving front companies, brokers, exchange houses, shadow banking and a “dark” tanker fleet.
Oil can be moved through ship-to-ship transfers and opaque ownership structures, while payments can bypass the dollar through Chinese yuan, barter and other arrangements.
The result is a peculiar resilience: Iran can become considerably poorer without its regime necessarily becoming incapable of functioning.
Politically connected institutions and intermediaries can also be partly insulated from the pain, CNN reported, with some benefiting from smuggling, currency distortions and control over scarce imports.
Ordinary households have no such protection.
(Gulf News)

Please don't tell me that it's going to be yet another on/off US anti-Iran initiative.

Iran's response.
Iran vows to retaliate against countries that cooperate with fresh US sanctions
Test of US rhetoric will rest on whether nations such as India, China and Russia view economic threats as credible
...

Iran’s security chief, Mohsen Rezaei, said Tehran would respond with an “earthquake-like” retaliation if Washington proceeded with the proposed measures. He also warned Iran’s Gulf neighbours against joining the US sanctions campaign.
“If the countries surrounding Iran join the Americans in their economic war, not a drop of oil will leave the Persian Gulf and the strait of Hormuz,” Rezaei said, adding that Iran would also target other oil export routes from the Gulf.
Shipping through the strait remained severely disrupted over the weekend, putting further pressure on global energy markets.
Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, dismissed the expected sanctions as a sign of US desperation, arguing that the measures would fail to defeat Tehran. He said the US had shifted from military operations to what he described as “the same old plans”.
Reza Nasri, an international lawyer with links to the Iranian foreign ministry, said: “The announcement is not a measure against Iran. It is a claim of jurisdiction over the world, and every sovereign state on Earth is its real addressee. Iran is merely the occasion. The demand that no country allow its own banks, businesses, airports or ship registries to engage in lawful trade with another country is aimed at everyone else. Sovereignty itself is the target.”
Esmail Baghaei, the Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson, said: “Repeating methods that have previously proven to fail will not produce any different results, except that it shows the extent to which America is hostile and spiteful towards each and every Iranian, because it knows very well that the effects of these sanctions will affect ordinary Iranian citizens.”
He added: “Obliging or intimidating other countries to stop or limit their trade relations with another country means violating the most important foundation of international relations and the most fundamental pillar of the United Nations charter, which is respect for the national sovereignty of countries.”
Hassan Ahmadian, a professor of west Asian studies at the University of Tehran, said: “There isn’t a single new sanction. Everything in Iran has been under primary and secondary sanctions since 2018. Since these sanctions failed to achieve the goals the US and Israel wanted, both sides turned to military action. The big fanfare about an ‘economic war’ is really just a public admission of a major step backward. After failing militarily, Washington is clearly stepping back to square one – the economy.”

The bit in my bold though. Is there a court where can this be fought? I guess this is where @RedTagAlan advocacy for the UN could apply.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/aug/24/iran-vows-retaliate-countries-cooperate-fresh-us-sanctions

What now. More bullshit from the taco. This was nothing more than a party political broadcast for his knuckle dragging maga supporters. This moron will push us to WWIII if he thinks it will get him a few more votes.

More on Syria … the US has officially lifted its state sponsorship of terrorism designation on Syria (source CNN).

@trumpredcard

I am not a law person, but my guess would be the WTO.

Iran is not a member, but the PRC use it a lot. It's often quoted in PRC state media. Example here.

China files lawsuit with WTO after US slaps ‘reciprocal tariffs’ on trading partners - Global Times

The USA is still a member according to the WTO site :

WTO ¦ Members and Observers

And it was not on his list of organizations he said he was leaving.

Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Withdraws the United States from International Organizations that Are Contrary to the Interests of the United States – The White House

So my guess is that within 2 weeks Trump will announce the US is leaving the WTO. This is their blurb on their "what we do page":

"Improving people’s lives
The fundamental goal of the WTO is to improve the welfare of people around the world. The WTO’s founding Marrakesh Agreement recognizes that trade should be conducted with a view to raising standards of living, ensuring full employment and increasing real income while allowing for the optimal use of the world’s resources.
Non-discrimination
A country should not discriminate between its trading partners, and it should not discriminate between its own and foreign products, services or nationals.
Opening trade
Lowering trade barriers is an obvious way to encourage trade; these barriers include customs duties (or tariffs) and measures such as import bans or quotas that restrict quantities selectively."

Don't ask me to quote any articles of the WTO, because that is well beyond my ability. But it is the "world order" when it comes to trade. And I think it is one of the organizations that the PRC/BRICS etc have not tried setting up an alternative to.

As to the vagueness of what Bessent said, I suspect that is maybe because he does know the WTO rulebook. Or he has advisors that do. So he can't order exactly what his Dear Leader demands.

All the above is just my guess/opinion/ first thoughts on reading the above posts. I have not got around to reading the news yet.

Translated from Arabic: “Under the directives of his Excellency President Ahmed Al- Sharaa, we have closed a dark chapter in Syria’s history by lifting the classification imposed on it due to the policies of the defunct regime in 1979.

All thanks and appreciation to the United States under the leadership of President Trump for this decision, and to my friend Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and to the dear ambassador Tom Barrack, and to everyone who stood by Syria’s side”.

US envoy to Syria Tom Barrack, meanwhile, called the end of the designation a “decisive step in Syria’s remarkable journey from isolation to partnership, and from a source of terrorism to a committed partner in the global fight against it”. (Al Jazeera).

To add to my above re the WTO.

I think there is a thing goes on where many people believe that likes of the UN, WTO, WHO. World Bank etc are all there to serve "western values". But they really are not. They were designed work for the people of the world, and to try to protect everyone from hegemony.

They are designed to protect people from the likes of Trump.

Even Xi, who maybe tries with Trump as " the most powerful man on the planet" knows that he needs to try to work within the system if he wants to change it to what he wants it to be.

China won’t seek new special, differential treatment in WTO negotiations; Decision will not change China’s developing-country status, identity: official - Global Times

But Trump ? Wah wah wah, I don't like it.

Here is an interesting bit :

"US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent unveiled the measures on Monday but stopped short of the most punishing sanctions, saying countries that continued trading with Iran risked being forced out of the dollar-based financial system."

Source :

Iran vows to retaliate after US widens sanctions | The Canberra Times | Canberra, ACT

I found that while looking for any WTO murmurings over the D Day.

It's interesting for a couple of reasons. First up is that ozz news is usually blocked where I am. So I checked out the publication. It's pukka, family owned, left of center. No connection to any government influence as if often the case.

Next up, if he is on about locking people out of the $, then he might as well be issued a CPC gold membership card.

It's the old carrot and stick. If one feeds a donkey carrots to keep it in your field, then it stays. Use a stick, and it jumps the fence into the next farmers field. And no, I don't know if donkeys can jump fences. But it might not need to jump. The farmer next door has built a massive gate bigger than Trump Triumphal arch, and it has big neon "welcome" signs hung all over it.

This is in the WP:
“The Trump team cannot help but describe its recalibrated approach in martial terms. Bessent previewed Monday’s rollout as an “economic D-Day.” But D-Day evokes a military campaign with a clear objective: the enemy’s unconditional surrender. Economic pressure rarely works that way.
Sanctions have a poor record when it comes to hastening regime change. Comprehensive enforcement is elusive, and Iran is a practiced evader, having honed its skills for decades. Worse, ruling elites are quite good at passing the pain along to regular people. Even populations enduring profound misery rarely throw off cruel leadership. Just ask the Kim dynasty in North Korea.”

Meanwhile, in Israel:

“Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed that Iran tried to kill one of his sons, but gave no details on when or where the alleged plot took place or which of his sons was targeted.
Netanyahu’s allegation on Monday came as his coalition trailed in opinion polls ahead of the general election in October, in the wake of the United States and Israel’s war on Iran.
The war began with a joint US-Israeli strike on Tehran that killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and four members of his family, including his daughter, Boshra, and his 14-month-old granddaughter, Zahra.
According to The Jerusalem Post, Netanyahu made the claim about the alleged Iranian plot against his son during a phone interview with Channel 14, a conservative Israeli outlet known for favourable coverage of the government.
“This is an unbelievable case. Iran targeted one of my sons. Iran tried to murder him, tried to murder one of my sons,” Netanyahu said”

Excerpt From
“Israel's Netanyahu claims Iran tried to kill one of his sons”
Al Jazeera
https://apple.news/AFql3Iuj7QqSPyeoMjeQSuA
This material may be protected by copyright.

@JadeHare ,

‘Sanctions have a poor record when it comes to hastening regime change.’

I’d say that they have a mixed record, given S.A. Some people (including me) also think they are the right response to unchecked settler violence in Israel. Also, I don’t think the U.S really cares about regime change any more, they just want Hormuz open and some kind of nuclear deal.

Although you are right that there are various work arounds Iran can use, they are already suffering and it will worsen as sanctions intensify.

There are definitely some in Iran who want a deal, so we have to hope that sanctions help them to prevail.

@JadeHare ,

‘According to The Jerusalem Post, Netanyahu made the claim about the alleged Iranian plot against his son during a phone interview with Channel 14, a conservative Israeli outlet known for favourable coverage of the government.
“This is an unbelievable case. Iran targeted one of my sons. Iran tried to murder him, tried to murder one of my sons,” Netanyahu said”’

Unbelievable?! I wouldn’t wish any harm on his family but you could easily call this a case of the biter bit!

I already posted about what Bessent said about countries being potentially locked out of the dollar based financial system but ok.

Locking countries out of the usd based financial system is a double edged sword.

Dedollarisation is already happening, although it is a slow process. But the CNY clearing system is becoming increasingly efficient and the Chinese are all too happy to do commodity deals in CNY.

Trump is looking for easy wins on several fronts including Iran and a looming trade war with Canada and not getting any of them.

www.jpmorgan.com/insights/global-research/currencies/de-dollarization

Wonder which major financial institution will be sanctioned by the end of the week and which country it will be in?

Could be a German financial institution… they do a surprising amount of trade with Iran.

@Twiglets1 ,

‘Wonder which major financial institution will be sanctioned by the end of the week and which country it will be in?’

My bet is on zero. I think this will be a real TACO policy, aside from the unilateral sanctions directly on Iran.

The US has imposed sanctions on Wellbred Capital, a Singapore-based commodities trader accused of having links to Tehran and answering to the son of a late senior Iranian security official, Reuters reports.

The sanctions also cover the firm’s branches in Dubai and Geneva, as well as its biofuels refinery in France, the Treasury added.

You may well be right … have to wait and see I guess.