Trump threatens to crush Iran with ‘Economic D Day’ - but he is running out of cards to play

P resident Donald Trump has issued another economic threat against Iran, vowing “TREMENDOUS Economic Consequences” for any country that trades with Tehran .

In another rant on Truth Social on Wednesday, he wrote: “ANY country that allows its financial institutions, businesses, airports, or government entities to provide any type of lifeline to Iran will itself face TREMENDOUS Economic Consequences.

“This will be an ECONOMIC D-DAY, and we need all of our Allies to stand with the United States of America to isolate, and defeat, the Iran threat.”

Tehran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said that the threats would only bring Trump “further defeat” as he struggles to find an exit strategy from an unpopular war.

“The so-called ‘Economic D-Day’ is a diversion from America's own crisis: unprecedented debt & surging interest costs,” he wrote in a post on X on Thursday, alongside screenshots of news headlines and graphs about America’s economic troubles.

“Doubling down on failed policies will only bring further defeat—and enmity of Iranians. US economic terrorism threatens global economy and sovereignty worldwide.”

The US had agreed to lift sanctions on sales of Iranian oil for the duration of a 60-day ceasefire that expired on Monday, but these were reimposed after the deal collapsed amid disagreement over the Strait of Hormuz last month.

For decades, it has imposed measures such as freezing assets, implementing trade embargoes and applying sanctions against Iran over issues such as its nuclear development and human rights violations.

Since the war, Washington has also imposed a naval blockade, restricting Iranian oil exports as well as levying additional maritime and energy sanctions since the war broke out.

Trump could escalate the situation by imposing secondary sanctions on third parties. However, he is limited in what he can enforce, say experts.

“The most likely step is tighter enforcement of secondary sanctions against companies, banks, insurers and shipping operators involved in Iranian oil exports,” says Dr Neil Quilliam, an energy policy, geopolitics and foreign affairs specialist, at Chatham House.

“The aim would be to make it more difficult and costly for third parties to do business with Iran, even if they are not based in the US.”

This is in line with what Trump has threatened, but Dr Quilliam says that even this could prove ineffective if the measures do not extend to China .

Iran appears to have profited from the outbreak of conflict, with the country’s semi-official Fars news agency reporting that the country generated $7.5bn in oil revenues over the first four months of the year.