Trump already tried to hurt Iran with sanctions once - and it didn't work

+ News Trump already tried to hurt Iran with sanctions once - and it didn't work September 4, 20264:06 AM ET Heard on Morning Edition By Franco Ordoñez Trump already tried to hurt Iran with sanctions once - and it didn't work Listen &middot; 4:15 4:15 Transcript Toggle more options Download Embed Embed "> <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5945582/nx-s1-9913637" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript President Trump is again hoping to use economic pressure to force Iran to the negotiating table. Sponsor Message Transcript STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: Vice President Vance says the administration is not setting artificial timelines in dealing with Iran. Vance took questions from reporters on Thursday, and he was asked whether the war with Iran would be over by the midterm elections. First, he took issue with the use of the word war to describe a conflict in which the U.S. and Iran renewed their fighting this week. As to the timing?

+ (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) JD VANCE: You're asking me a question like, when will the Iranians stop shooting at ships? I think the reality is I don't know the answer to that question. You would have to ask the Iranians. INSKEEP: The administration is not just physically trading fire with Iran. It's also targeting countries and banks that do business with Iran, hoping that economic pain can accomplish what military force has not, forcing the regime to surrender. NPR White House correspondent Franco Ordoñez reports. FRANCO ORDOÑEZ, BYLINE: When President Trump announced in 2018 that the United States was abandoning the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran, he promised to unleash what he called a campaign of maximum pressure on Tehran. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We will be instituting the highest level of economic sanction. ORDOÑEZ: And he warned countries and companies that continued to do business with Iran that they could face severe consequences. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) TRUMP: Today's action sends a critical message. The United States no longer makes empty threats. When I make promises, I keep them. ORDOÑEZ: It didn't work then as Trump had hoped. And now, six years later, the second Trump administration is trying maximum pressure again. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) SCOTT BESSENT: Our objective is to sever every economic lifeline that sustains this tyrannical regime until Tehran stands alone. ORDOÑEZ: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent went on to describe the efforts as an economic D-Day and vowed that the U.S. would, quote, "tighten the noose" around Iran. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) BESSENT: This is economic asphyxiation of this regime. ORDOÑEZ: Six months into the war with Iran, the administration's ongoing military campaign has yet to produce the political outcome it wants. Fighting flared up again this week amid stalled peace negotiations, and Trump is searching for a new source of leverage. The question is whether an economic campaign that failed to produce the desired results in the first administration can succeed now. SUZANNE MALONEY: I think the secretary's announcement was more hot air than actual substance. ORDOÑEZ: Suzanne Maloney, vice president and director for foreign policy at the Brookings Institution, says the reality is that Iran has already been living under increasing U.S. and multilateral sanctions, dating back to the Iranian Revolution in 1979. MALONEY: What we've seen is that we have sanctioned Iran so heavily over the years that there really isn't, you know, some silver bullet that's going to create a huge havoc in the Iranian economy. ORDOÑEZ: It's not that sanctions have never worked against Iran, but they have worked under very different circumstances. Financial pressure arguably helped bring an end to the 1979 hostage crisis. Sanctions also played an important role in the negotiations that led to the 2015 nuclear deal under former President Barack Obama. DANIEL DREZNER: The problem with the sanctions as they're currently designed is less the sanctions themselves and more what's being asked, which is, in essence, regime change and unconditional surrender by Iran. ORDOÑEZ: Daniel Drezner, a former international economist at Treasury, says the key difference from 2015 is that the Obama administration made clear that its goal was a nuclear agreement, not regime change. DREZNER: You could have the best sanctions in the world. Those are the kind of demands that most countries are going to refuse to acquiesce to. ORDOÑEZ: And Drezner, who is now at Tufts University, says he remains skeptical of the administration's commitment unless Washington is willing to confront the countries doing the most business with Iran. DREZNER: I will believe that the United States is serious about these kinds of secondary sanctions the moment they impose sanctions on a Chinese bank or a Chinese institution. ORDOÑEZ: Trump is also expected to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping later this month. A key test of the sanctions campaign will be whether Trump is willing to make Iran's oil sales to China a major issue in those talks. Franco Ordoñez, NPR News. (SOUNDBITE OF KING BUFFALO SONG, "LONGING TO BE THE MOUNTAIN") Copyright &copy; 2026 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

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