Sanctions crippled Iran’s economy but failed to alter its foreign policy
Evidence
The biggest break perhaps with Obama era policies lay with Iran. Not only did the Trump administration rip up the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, but the “maximum pressure” policy imposed a devastating new sanctions regime on Iran. These sanctions, which barred foreign investment and oil sales, have crippled the Iranian economy, contracting it by 4.8 percent in 2018 and 9.5 percent in 2019.61 There was also an escalation of drone strikes and increased use of Special Forces operations against Iranian assets throughout the region, most famously the assassination of Soleimani in 2020. Iran responded with a largely symbolic counterattack on a US airbase in Erbil, Iraq. In the end, both sides drew back from the brink of war. However, the new sanctions regime has failed to have the intended impact. Despite Iran’s economic crisis, it retained support from its regional allies as well as Russia and China. Moreover, it accelerated its nuclear program in defiance of the United States. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 523
Categorization
- FICTION: A precision sanctions weapon failing against a defiant target is a rich scenario seed.
- corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 523
- XREF: connects to: Maximum-pressure sanctions contracted Iran’s economy by 4.8 and 9.5 percent in 2018-2019; Sanctions pressure backfired by accelerating Iran’s nuclear program; Sanctions and withdrawal from the Iran deal incentivize nuclear proliferation