A top US Treasury Department official, Jonathan Burke, visited countries across the Middle East, warning them that continuing trade with Iran would completely shut them out of trading with the US, according to a Friday Wall Street Journal report.
"You either trade with Washington, or with Iran," he told Iran's trade partners across the Middle East and Europe, according to the WSJ report.
Since the introduction of Operation Economic Outcast in August, the US has imposed significant sanctions on Iran. Regional partners, including Iraq, stopped Iranian flights to and from their countries in response to the US threatening to sanction any airport that services Iranian carriers.
The US campaign against Iran is especially effective due to the growing distrust between the Islamic Republic and the Gulf Arab states.
“We’re seeing a new urgency from our partners,” Burke told the WSJ. “They’re taking it very seriously.”
Burke visited Oman first, as it had often served as an intermediary between Tehran and the West. His visit showed officials that the US was serious about enforcing sanctions against Iran, and that refusing to cooperate could have economic consequences, Middle Eastern officials told the WSJ.
In total, Burke visited over 50 countries across the Middle East and Europe, warning them to cease relationships with Iran.
Flights from Iran to China and Russia remain open; however, within those countries, Iran-affiliated businesses and agents still face sanctions from the US.
Pezeshkian acknowledges impact of US sanctions
In his speech to the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday, Iranian President Mahsoud Pezeshkian acknowledged the significant impact that US sanctions were having on Iran; however, he refused to accept defeat and turned the conflict around on US President Donald Trump, insisting that Iran was a victim of US terrorism.
“The US president described us as terrorists,” he said. “We have been the victims of terrorism.”
He went on to describe Trump as a "bully." In an interview with Qatari state-funded broadcaster Al Jazeera on Saturday night, Pezeshkian added, "We will die, but we will not bow our heads."
"America and Israel think they can overthrow us with these pressures, but we will overcome all problems with strength," Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told Al Jazeera.
Iran's regional relations collapse under US threats
Over the last 50 years, Iran has faced increasing sanctions from the US; however, vital regional banking and trade relations have persevered.
The war this year has weakened Gulf ties as Iran targeted energy infrastructure in other countries in the region, attacked ships in the Strait of Hormuz, which is the gateway for approximately one-fifth of the world's oil, and allowed the Iran-linked Houthi militia to do the same to the Bab al-Mandab strait, the Red Sea's Hormuz equivalent.
Faced with the risk of the US sanctioning them for maintaining connections with Tehran, many of Iran's trade partners have cut ties.
“Iran has been a problem for 50 years, and we’ve kind of reached our peak at tolerating this problem,” Burke told the WSJ.