TOP STORIES Bessent Unveils Sweeping New Iran Sanctions but Delays Toughest Blow | Washington Post “Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday unveiled a sweeping campaign of financial sanctions and diplomatic pressure designed to sever Iran’s remaining links to the global economy, but he declined to say which countries would be targeted or when new penalties on Iran’s trading partners would take effect. . . . Bessent left unresolved what many analysts see as a key issue: whether the administration is prepared to take on China one month before President Xi Jinping is due in Washington for an official state visit. . . . Asked whether Chinese banks would be among those hit with the punishing financial measures, Bessent replied that ‘no one is above the reach of U.S. sanctions.’” Dozens of China, HK Entities Hit by Bessent’s Iran Sanctions | Bloomberg “The Trump administration’s latest sanctions salvo against Iran has swept up businesses in China and Hong Kong, but avoided the far more consequential step of targeting major Chinese financial institutions. . . . The latest Iran measures suggest Washington is seeking to raise the costs of doing business with Tehran without yet confronting the broader economic and diplomatic fallout that could come from sanctioning large Chinese banks. Still, it is unclear how effective the measures on the firms will be given they are private with little known exposure to the US.” 5 Ways Iran’s Economy Is Wilting Under Trump’s Pressure | Axios “Here’s how Trump’s economic headlock is affecting Iran's economy: Iran’s currency is crashing . . . Inflation is devouring paychecks . . . Iranians are facing financial hardships . . . Oil exports have collapsed . . . Jobs are disappearing as recession fears rise.” UANI IN THE NEWS U.S. Squeezes Iran but Avoids Targeting Its Biggest Lifeline: China | Wall Street Journal “The U.S. launched what it described as an unprecedented campaign to cripple Iran’s economy by cutting off ‘every remaining lifeline’ sustaining the country. Yet unmentioned in Scott Bessent’s speech announcing ‘Operation Economic Outcast’ was the country that has enabled Iran to withstand years of American pressure: China. . . . ‘Nothing close to the hype,’ said Charlie Brown, a researcher with United Against Nuclear Iran, a U.S. advocacy organization that is calling for more sanctions against banks in China and elsewhere that facilitate the purchase of Iranian oil.” Could Iran’s Regime Collapse? Experts Assess Bessent’s Bid to Sever Financial Lifelines | Fox News “Jason Brodsky, policy director at United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), told Fox News Digital that ‘The question is often asked what makes this iteration of the maximum pressure campaign different from all other iterations? The answer is this iteration is taking place against a backdrop where there is a synchronization of economic and military pressure against the Iranian regime — a combination which has never been deployed by a U.S. administration until now. . . . So Operation Economic Outcast is being launched at a time of true weakness in terms of its national power. The regime's risk tolerance may be increasing, but so is its desperation. The drivers pushing the Iranian people into the streets to protest have only gotten worse since January—with political, economic and social forces all deteriorating. The regime is seeking to use the tussle over the Strait of Hormuz as a distraction from all of this.” Tracking a Sanctioned Russian Vessel’s West African Odyssey | Bellingcat “A sanctioned vessel that was previously reported to have transported weapons destined for Russian mercenaries has been traversing ports on the west coast of Africa since March, exhibiting what experts told Bellingcat was an unusual set of movements and behaviours. . . . Charlie Brown, a former US Naval Officer and Senior Advisor at United Against Nuclear Iran said the combination of Patria’s repeated regional port calls, extended periods at anchor, and an apparent absence of a normal point-to-point trading cycle warranted scrutiny, especially as the ship is under sanction and is previously reported to have shipped arms.” Galle’s Offshore Iranian Tanker Line Raises Spill Fears | Lanka News Web “A line of giant Iranian oil tankers idling beyond Sri Lanka’s territorial waters is creating a security and environmental concern for the country, with officials warning that any confrontation involving the vessels could trigger consequences far more serious than a sanctions dispute. . . . According to Charlie Brown, Senior Adviser to United against Nuclear Iran, many of the vessels may have completed ship-to-ship transfers in the Malaysian Eastern Outer Port Limits before moving towards Sri Lanka. Under normal circumstances, Brown said, the tankers would be expected to return to Iran to reload. But restrictions on Iranian shipping have disrupted that cycle, leaving some vessels waiting for conditions to change.” What the Ship | What’s Going On with Shipping? “This is the composite put together by United Against Nuclear Iran. . . . You can see where they’re getting the voyages.” Iran State TV Broadcasts $10 Million Bounty on Barron Trump | Streamline “The broadcasts arrive nearly six months after open war began between Washington and Tehran, a conflict that has already produced Iranian billboards depicting coffins for American leaders and a steady drumbeat of IRGC linked media output. On the American side, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has warned that an economic D-Day is coming for Iran, a phrase circulated by United Against Nuclear Iran, signalling that financial pressure will accompany the military campaign.” SANCTIONS, BUSINESS RISKS & OTHER ECONOMIC NEWS China Warns US It Could Retaliate over Iran Sanctions | Financial Times “Beijing has warned the US that it will retaliate if Chinese companies are included in any significant expansion of the Trump administration’s new secondary sanctions relating to Iran.” Economic D-Day for Iran Doesn’t Live Up to Bessent’s Hype | Bloomberg “For now at least, the strategy doesn’t look very different to what the US has already been doing, and exposes the limitations of what it’s willing to do in the future. In continuing to target the logistics firms, agents and middlemen involved in the Iran-China oil trade, it’s effectively playing a game of whack-a-mole, given that these companies have shown they can reemerge in a different form in a matter of days. . . . [W]hether the US needs to do anything more to strangle the Iran-to-China oil flows at this point is questionable. Its naval blockade of the Islamic Republic’s ports is proving very effective, with a growing fleet of fully laden tankers stuck in the Persian Gulf and floating stockpiles of Iranian crude in East Asia having all but run out. This approach may already be forcing China’s independent refiners, Iran’s main customers, to look for alternative supplies. It does, however, come at the cost of keeping US warships deployed for extended periods, something that’s generated negative headlines back home.” Iranians Queue for Petrol as US Blockade Bites | Financial Times “Long queues have formed at petrol stations around Tehran as the US blockade triggers fuel shortages and spreads alarm among motorists in a sign of the war’s growing strain on the Iranian economy.” Iran Shrugs off US Economic War as Analysts Sound Alarm | Iran International “Iranian officials have dismissed Washington’s ‘Economic D-Day’ as another failed attempt to cripple the country, but analysts inside Iran warn that an economy weakened by war may be far less capable of absorbing the latest US pressure campaign.” United States Sanctions Oil Trader Wellbred over Iran Links | Reuters “The United States imposed sanctions on Singapore-based Wellbred Capital and its trading firms in the United Arab Emirates and Switzerland, citing links with Iran, as it steps up measures to target Tehran’s global financial links. The company had ties to Iranian oil shipping magnate Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani, the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said on its website on Monday.” Iran Says It Is ‘Fully Prepared’ to Counter Widened Us Economic Sanctions | BBC News “Iran has said it is confident it can counter widened US sanctions after Washington announced what it described as an ‘economic D-Day’ against the country to try to isolate it from the global economy. Iranian Economy Minister Ali Madanizadeh said Tehran was ‘fully prepared’ for the sanctions, which he said would lead to "another defeat" for the US.” What the New US Sanctions on Iran Mean for European Businesses | Euronews “European companies have little left to lose in terms of trade with Iran. According to Eurostat, EU trade volume in goods with Iran was worth only €3.72 billion in 2025, of which €2.97 billion were European exports, about 0.1% of what the bloc sells abroad and down from a peak above €27 billion back in 2011. . . . European exports are mostly pharmaceuticals, machinery and medical equipment, categories often covered by humanitarian exemptions, while imports are dominated by pistachios and other food products. . . . In practice, most [European firms] have chosen the US dollar since 2018, and this week gives them little reason to reconsider.” Iran Keeps Finding Gas. Getting It Out Is the Problem | Umud Shokri for Iran International “Iran has announced another major gas discovery, but with the world’s second-largest reserves already beneath its soil, Tehran’s problem is not finding gas but finding the money and technology to extract it.” Trump: Iran Is in “Economic and Military Death Spiral” | IranWire “On Monday, August 24, [President] Trump wrote on the social media platform Truth Social: ‘The spirit in our country has never been higher. We are winning against everyone, including Iran, whose country is in an economic and military death spiral.’ Hours earlier, he wrote in another post: ‘Iran is completely collapsing.’” MILITARY MATTERS & SHIPPING Hegseth: US Military Strikes Against Iran Remain Firmly on the Table | IranWire “US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth stated that the Donald Trump administration is not ruling out the use of military force against Iran. He emphasized that alongside escalating economic pressure on Tehran, the option of carrying out strikes in the Strait of Hormuz or other regions of Iran remains on the table.” DIPLOMACY U.S. Said to Be Returning Diplomats to Middle East Embassies | New York Times “The State Department is preparing to send U.S. diplomats back to embassies in the Middle East that were evacuated before and during the war with Iran, suggesting that the Trump administration does not anticipate a return to all-out hostilities. The return of foreign service officers and the scaling back of emergency measures taken at U.S. missions in the Middle East could begin this week, according to an internal State Department document obtained by The Times.” Pakistan and Iran Made ‘Significant Progress’ in Talks on Conflict, Minister Says | Reuters “Pakistan and Iran made ‘significant progress’ in talks that focused on the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran and a path to peace, Pakistan’s interior minister said on Tuesday, at the end of a visit to Tehran. Talks between the two sides focused on measures to prevent further escalation, reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and an expedited termination of the conflict, a statement from the Pakistani military said about the meeting between the country’s army chief, Asim Munir, and the Iranian leadership.” ASSASSINATION THREATS & PLOTS ‘Iran Tried to Assassinate One of My Sons,’ Netanyahu Reveals | Jerusalem Post “Iran tried to assassinate the son of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the PM said during a phone call with Channel 14’s military correspondent Noam Amir, broadcast on Monday. . . . In July, The Ministerial Committee for Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) Affairs approved the granting of extended personal protection to Netanyahu's wife, Sara, and their sons, Yair and Avner. Netanyahu did not appear to say whether Yair or Avner was the target of Iran's assassination attempt.” PROTESTS & HUMAN RIGHTS Christian Convert Who Fled Iran and Was Ousted from U.S. Finds a New Home | New York Times “The young woman became the face of migrants deported by the United States to Panama. She was locked up in a hotel, detained in a camp in the Darién jungle and stranded in a country where she knew neither the language nor anyone else. Later, she lent her name to a bill in Congress aimed at providing more protection to some migrants seeking asylum in the United States. The woman, Artemis Ghasemzadeh, a 28-year-old Iranian Christian convert, has now found a home—in Canada. In June, the Canadian government granted her asylum, a happy bookend to her nearly two-year journey fleeing religious persecution in Iran only to get entangled in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.” IRANIAN INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS Is Mojtaba Khamenei Dead? | Arash Azizi in the Atlantic “The Iranian regime has existential choices to make as it decides between diplomacy and conflict. Iran’s constitution is clear about who has the authority to set the country’s course. But no one seems able to say for sure whether that person is alive or dead. And without a firm hand at the top, indecision can become a purgatory without a foreseeable end.” | 
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