Trump gives every nation an easy choice: Do business with America or terrorist Iran

When President Donald Trump announced last week that he would subject Iran to unprecedented economic pressure, critics crowed that this shift was tantamount to an admission that the Operation Epic Fury had failed.

Yet such a policy is not only completely consistent with the president’s approach during his first term, but has a significantly greater chance of working because of Epic Fury’s actual military success.

Now, with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s announcement of the so-called "D-Day" sanctions of Operation Economic Outcast, the pressure on Iran is about to become intolerable, giving Trump overwhelming leverage to force the nuclear deal he wants on Tehran.

Between 2019 and 2021, Trump directed the implementation of the Maximum Pressure campaign against Iran.

The most aggressive sanctions program in modern history, it was designed to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon by starving it of the economic resources to build one.

TRUMP’S ECONOMIC D-DAY CAN HAMMER IRAN, BUT WILL TEHRAN EVER SURRENDER? Naysayers predicted it would fail, but the opposite turned out to be true.

Iran’s oil exports dropped below 400,000 barrels a day, down from 2.5 million a day.

Iran’s inflation soared to 30%.

Accessible foreign currency reserves were slashed from $122 billion to a dismal $12 billion.

All for the simple reason: Given the choice between doing business with the United States or Iran, any country that can add and subtract picked the U.S.

AMB GORDON SONDLAND: OUR ALLIES ENJOYED A FREE RIDE TRADING WITH IRAN.

TRUMP IS SHUTTING THAT DOWN What a contrast with the Biden administration’s approach.

When it chose to start negotiations for a new nuclear deal with Iran by preemptively ending enforcement of the sanctions rather than increasing the leverage these sanctions provided, Iran welcomed the relief but did not make any efforts to reach a deal.

While inflation remained high, oil exports quickly rose to 1.6 million barrels a day, foreign currency reserves rose to $26 billion, and unemployment hit a record low of 7.2%.