Washington, DC – Ryan Costello, Policy Director with the National Iranian American Council, issued the following statement after President Trump vowed unprecedented economic warfare against Iran:
“The war lobby wants to trap President Trump into a forever war with Iran, and if he follows their economic strangulation playbook, he’ll be stuck with one and the strategic, political and economic blowback that entails. Far from an alternative to war, the maximum pressure sanctions he pursued since 2018 led him into this war and will keep America stuck in this war unless we trade in sanctions for a deal.
“President Trump is shredding any meaningful distinction between the economic war the U.S. has waged against Iran since 2018 and the war of aggression he initiated on February 28. Even if the bombs and missiles are comparatively quiet over the Persian Gulf and south of Iran on any given day, the naval blockade is blocking ships carrying consumer goods into the country, supplementing a sanctions policy that has already made Iranians substantially poorer. Trump’s economic and military warfare against Iran is a hostile policy without any viable alternative. Not only does it back Iran into a corner from which its only option appears to be to fight, but the harshest impacts of the policy have fallen on the most vulnerable in society – not the political elite.
“Iran’s economy is in freefall and the price of food has grown ever more unaffordable, but not a single stated priority from the United States has been resolved: the Iranian nuclear program is still uninspected and in the dark, Iran maintains extensive capability and motive to undermine regional security with missiles and drones and Iran’s human rights situation has worsened considerably. The strangulation of Iran’s economy, which provides the livelihoods of more than 90 million people, is just as indefensible as the rotten and backfiring decision to wage war against Iran.
“President Trump helped broker a Memorandum of Understanding that – however vague on certain specifics – offered a pathway out of the madness of a forever war with Iran. But instead of following through and delivering real sanctions relief, President Trump discarded it at the first opportunity, opting instead for more bombardment and military escalation. Iran does not need total control of the Strait of Hormuz to continue to inflict economic harm in turn. Gas prices remain elevated, compounding a cost of living crisis in the United States and causing further harm across the globe. Thousands more innocents will die, and more economic harm will be wrought, if a pathway out of this crisis is not restored and implemented.
“The challenges posed by Iran cannot be bombed or blockaded away, but they can be addressed via negotiation. Iran has signaled that it is willing to return to a version of the Memorandum of Understanding President Trump once hailed. Hopefully, President Trump’s bluster about an “Economic D-Day” is just more heated rhetoric before a pivot to reason and a deal. But he’s proven far more willing to follow the war lobby on Iran than defy it.”
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