(A)Political - August 22nd

Good morning everyone,

Good morning! Let’s dig in!

Treasury Secretary Bessent has called for all of the U.S. allies to buck Iran and join in on enforcing the U.S.’s crippling sanctions. Canada is now in the crosshairs of more U.S. tariffs as dealmakers fail to find a resolution. Members of a media agency that are funded by and answer to the Pentagon have been fired over alleged insubordination

• Bessent On Iran Sanctions: You’re Either With Us Or Against Us’

• Trade War Escalates Between U.S. & Canada, U.S. Imposes 50% Tariffs On Certain Goods

• Pentagon Fires ‘Stars & Stripes’ Staff For Alleged Insubordination

Bessent On Iran Sanctions: You’re Either With Us Or Against Us’

_{By: Atlas}

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called on America's allies — and pointedly, China — to enforce a sweeping new sanctions regime against Iran, telling the world it is "either with us or against us" as the administration prepares to unveil what he promises will be the harshest economic measures ever imposed on a single country.

"It is a one-two punch. We have the blockade, and we are going to have the toughest sanctions in history," Bessent said in a CNBC interview Thursday, ahead of a Monday press conference where the Treasury will detail the package. "It is going to work in Iran, and we are going to collapse this regime."

The secretary framed the campaign as a global loyalty test. "We're going to them and saying: You're either with us or against us," he said. "If you insist on doing business with them — either transferring money, buying oil, doing seaborne ship transport — then the US Treasury and the US government, they will put its full might and force towards enforcing against you." He billed the strategy as the "greatest coordinated economic isolation in the history of the world," adding: "It is time for our allies and the rest of the world to make a decision."

On X, he distilled the warning further: "Any remaining tie to Tehran will hasten a nation's economic oblivion, whether that tie be purposefully constructed or willfully ignored."

The comments amplified President Donald Trump's Wednesday pledge on Truth Social of "the MOST CRUSHING ECONOMIC OPERATION EVER TAKEN AGAINST ANY COUNTRY," an effort he dubbed an "economic D-Day" and paired with threats of "tremendous consequences" for any country providing "any type of lifeline to Iran." Vice President JD Vance described the shift on a podcast: "We're kind of now in a new phase where the most effective tool that we have is the economic pressure that we can apply to them. This is a delicate dance because" Iran will "try to apply economic pressure to us."

The China Question

The campaign's success runs through Beijing, and Bessent handled that subject with conspicuous care. Asked directly whether China — Iran's dominant trading partner — would be targeted, he declined to answer publicly, saying "many conversations are best to have in private," while urging Beijing "to get with the program." He noted the Chinese draw roughly half their energy from the Gulf, arguing they share an interest in reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Chinese President Xi Jinping is due at the White House on September 24.

The stakes are considerable. Treasury's own advisories say China purchases about 90% of Iran's oil exports, most of it flowing to independent "teapot" refineries concentrated in Shandong Province. The department has spent the year working up the supply chain: designating the Hengli Petrochemical refinery in Dalian in April as one of Iran's largest customers, sanctioning four other independent refineries, warning banks against facilitating Shandong transactions, and in May targeting three Iranian exchange houses that convert yuan oil proceeds through what Treasury calls a shadow banking system.

The pressure — combined with the war and the US naval blockade — is showing in the data. Tanker-tracking firm Kpler estimated China's intake of Iranian crude at roughly 534,000 barrels per day so far in August, down from about 785,000 in June and an average of 1.4 million across 2025. Beijing's Foreign Ministry pushed back, with spokesman Lin Jian saying sanctions and pressure will not resolve the conflict and calling for a political settlement.

"Economic Terrorism" — and a Peace Feeler — From Tehran

Iran answered with characteristic duality. The Foreign Ministry branded the coming sanctions "economic terrorism" and "crimes against humanity," declaring the Islamic Republic "steadfast and determined" against American "military, economic, political and psychological attacks." Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi mocked the plan on X as "a diversion from America's own crisis: unprecedented debt & surging interest costs." The armed forces chief, Major General Ali Abdollahi, warned that Iran's military stands ready "across land, sea, air, air defense and cyberspace" to deliver "crushing, punishing and devastating responses."

Yet on Friday, President Masoud Pezeshkian struck a different note, telling a medical conference it would be an opportune moment to end the nearly six-month war. "It is better to end it today, as we are in a position of strength and dignity," he said, insisting the collapsed June memorandum contained no clause of capitulation — while vowing Iran would "under no circumstances bow to intimidation" and would resist "until our last breath" if required. Parliamentary speaker and chief negotiator Mohammad Qalibaf, visiting Iraq, said Iran "must make plans to deal with the unjust sanctions so we can overcome them."

Regime Change Returns to the Vocabulary

Bessent's "collapse this regime" formulation — repeated as a vow to "squash the economy of this murderous regime" — marked a notable return by a senior US official to regime-change language, after months in which Trump insisted the war's sole aim was preventing an Iranian nuclear weapon. The secretary argued the economic track reduces the odds of renewed bombing: "If we are doing the maximum economic pressure, then that means that likely there will not be a large-scale kinetic restart, but I will emphasize that is for now."

How much additional pain Washington can inflict on a country it barely trades with, after five decades of sanctions, remains the open analytical question. Iran continues to export oil through a sanctioned shadow fleet, settling sales in yuan, and has weathered blacklisting before. The administration's answer is that the new phase targets not Iran but everyone else — the refiners, banks, shippers, and governments that keep Tehran's remaining commerce alive.

The War's Grinding Backdrop

The sanctions push lands on a stalemated battlefield. Trump said this week no talks are underway, the Strait of Hormuz remains largely closed with Brent crude near $94 a barrel and US gasoline averaging about $4.10, and the UAE suspended all trade with Iran after two ballistic missiles were reportedly launched at its territory. Washington on Thursday also sanctioned 10 people tied to Hezbollah's financing network, including a Turkish businessman, and approved a potential $4.5 billion sale of refueling aircraft to Qatar, a key mediator.

The military picture is being reinforced even as officials tout the economic track: the USS George Washington strike group arrived in the region Wednesday, relieving the USS Abraham Lincoln after a deployment marked by reports of food shortages, broken plumbing, and suicide attempts that fueled domestic criticism of the war. With midterm elections in November and public opinion running against the conflict, Monday's announcement will show whether the administration's "economic D-Day" is a strategy — or a slogan awaiting one.

Subscribe to (A)Political to read the rest.