U.S. Threatens New Economic War on Iran by Targeting China & Tehran's Other Top Trading Partners

The Trump administration has announced unspecified plans to further tighten sanctions on Iran, threatening other countries, including China, in the process. We speak to sanctions expert Nicholas Mulder about what he calls the rhetorical" and psychological warfare" of the announcement. For Iran, says Mulder, the announcement was not really materially all that meaningful. And to the extent that they are, they hurt ordinary Iranians and not the government." The impact on the U.S. relationship with China, however, could be much greater. If the U.S. does place secondary sanctions on Iran's trading partners, the U.S.-China trade truce might be unraveling," warns Mulder. The space for maneuver that the U.S. has in using these tools of very coercive economic statecraft has narrowed."