Trump’s plan to isolate and defang Iran is working

It is becoming quite clear that President Trump’s decision to depart from the Iran nuclear deal was just the first step in the White House’s plan of action against the regime in Tehran. The administration is employing all of America’s instruments of national power to isolate and defang the mullahs.

European allies, and even America’s adversaries, are falling in line behind aggressive U.S. policies against the Iranian regime, which are backed by sanctions intended to cut off Tehran from the global trade market.

On Tuesday, the Russian oil giant Lukoil announced that it would not go forward on energy development projects in Iran. This strikes a massive blow to the regime in Tehran, which used to be able to count on Russia as a solid ally.

Lukoil’s announcement goes to show that many of the Iranian regime’s business partners — regardless of whether their headquarters are based in allied or adversarial nations — have conducted a cost-benefit analysis and concluded that they do not want to be on the wrong side of U.S. sanctions.

Also this week, the world’s two biggest shipping companies, Denmark-based Maersk and Switzerland-based Mediterranean Shipping Co., announced that they were leaving the Iranian market too.

These decisions come on the heels of additional statements made by several other European energy companies that also decided to cut off business ties with the regime. Earlier this month, the French energy company Total announced that it would abandon projects in Iran, citing impending U.S. sanctions.

The aggressive sanctions strategy has shown no signs of slowing down. On Wednesday, the U.S. Treasury Department blacklisted several Iranian nationals, in addition to multiple entities connected to the regime’s inhumane and terrorist-supporting activities.

The Trump administration has leveraged the economic might of the U.S. economy to impose punishing sanctions. The decisions of these global energy giants show that the plan is indeed working. The Iranian regime is more isolated than ever before.

The Iranian economy continues its downward spiral. The Rial, Iran’s currency, is rapidly depreciating in value.

Iranians appear to have had enough of the Islamic regime in Tehran. People are rising up against the regime in unprecedented numbers. On a daily basis, thousands are taking to the streets in opposition to the mullahs.

President Trump’s maximum pressure strategy against the rulers in Iran is succeeding. What was once a cash-flush regime, thanks to the Obama administration’s Iran deal, has become an isolated regime desperate for partners. Given the turmoil surrounding Iran, it wouldn’t at all be surprising to see the all-out collapse of the world’s foremost state sponsor of terror happen sooner rather than later.

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