The United States is in a protracted standoff with the Islamic Republic of Iran. The current administration has opted for a policy of exerting economic pain on the regime and its sources of funding.

Maximum Pressure Campaign

The Treasury Department has unveiled measures to squeeze Iran’s access to revenues from oil sales, targeting Chinese, Indian, and other third-country oil brokers and tanker operators. The U.S. Navy’s blockade of Iranian ports, involving over 20 warships and hundreds of military aircraft, is also costing Iran tens of millions of dollars every day.

The ‘maximum pressure’ strategy is underpinned by the use of tactical yet large-scale air strikes and other military measures designed to do additional damage to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and other military targets across Iran.

The regime’s upper echelons are in disarray, with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei killed along with 40 of Iran’s most senior military commanders. IRGC generals are calling the shots, and are at odds with civilians in the government tasked with reaching an agreement with the United States.

The economic crisis is deepening, and under the ‘maximum pressure’ campaign, the situation could come to a boil. The Trump administration can hasten the regime’s demise by maintaining the economic squeeze on oil reserves, keeping up tactical military and covert pressure on IRGC centers of power and funding, and expanding support for activists inside Iran.

Original reporting: Fox News (HLL/CB) — read the source article.