“We don’t want to speak to them. We’re not looking to meet or anything.” President Donald Trump said that to reporters on Thursday, a day before the U.S.-Israel war on Iran hit the six-month mark. He told them he was “not in a hurry” to get Tehran back to the table.
It is a long way from the “little excursion” he once promised would last a matter of weeks. The war has cost the United States more than $37.5 billion, and it has dented his popularity ahead of November elections. On Friday Trump was in Houston to honor the Artemis II crew for their 10-day trip around the moon earlier this year.
Trump insists the pressure is working. “They’re not paying their troops. They’re in deep trouble. They have very little capacity,” he said. “We have control and we have the blockade. Iran is not getting anything. Nothing is going through.”
Sanctions instead of strikes
This week the administration said it would lean on economic pressure rather than military action, with threats against any country or company that keeps doing business with Iran. The shift comes as the administration weighs diminished munitions stockpiles, which has raised worries about U.S. readiness elsewhere.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent unveiled a campaign the White House calls “Operation Economic Outcast”. So far it consists of warnings; no secondary sanctions have been announced. On Friday the Treasury took steps that could lead to cutting Egypt’s Banque Misr off from the U.S. financial system, accusing the bank of serving as a lifeline to Tehran’s leadership. China, Iran’s biggest trade partner and oil buyer, objected to “illegal unilateral sanctions”. Asked why he was not already targeting Chinese banks, Trump said: “Who said I’m not? You don’t know if I’m doing it. I don’t have to announce everything, do I?”
Trump also shared a post this week reading “MISSION ACCOMPLISHED 2026”, an AI-generated image of himself against fighter jets, a warship and flags. The phrase recalls the banner behind George W. Bush in 2003, which became shorthand for a premature claim of victory in Iraq.
Hormuz and the talks
Iranian officials put the damage to their country at $270 billion, direct and indirect. Israeli strikes early in the war wiped out much of Iran’s leadership, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iran has found its own leverage in the Strait of Hormuz. Trump said on Thursday the strait is open and that 24 vessels passed through a day earlier. Roughly 130 used to cross each day before the war.
Qatar and Pakistan are pressing for a diplomatic way out. Qatar’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, was in Tehran on Thursday to discuss a proposed plan between Iran and Oman to boost traffic through the strait. Trump has shown little interest in returning to a preliminary deal from June meant to reopen the strait and start nuclear talks. That deal collapsed within weeks after Iran began attacking ships.
Aarathi Krishnan, a geopolitical risk analyst at RAKSHA Intelligence Future, says the strikes and decades of sanctions have battered Iran. She also thinks more pressure may not deliver what Trump wants. Iran has spent years selling discounted oil and building opaque shipping and financial networks. “This administration has completely underestimated the Iranian resolve,” she said.
Richard Goldberg, a former National Security Council adviser on Iran who is now at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, wants the administration to go much further. He called for layering a naval blockade with an air and land embargo and “dropping the hammer” on anyone who gives the regime access to hard currency, in the Middle East, China or Europe.
Sources
- Trump says he’s ‘not in a hurry’ to end Iran war
- Six months into Iran war, Donald Trump says he’s in no hurry to end it
