China’s refusal to bow to US sanctions has raised hopes in Tehran that Beijing could blunt Washington’s new economic offensive, but a debate inside Iran reveals doubts over how far China is willing or able to go on Iran’s behalf.
The US has opened a new front in its economic campaign against Iran by threatening to cut a major third-country bank out of the dollar system over alleged involvement in Tehran’s shadow-banking network.
The US Treasury moved Friday to cut the UAE branches of Egypt’s Banque Misr off from direct access to the US financial system over alleged dealings with Iran, marking the first major action in Washington’s new “Economic D-Day” campaign against Tehran.
Iranian banks and businesses continue to operate in Dubai despite Washington’s demand that countries sever their remaining economic links with Tehran, exposing the difficulty of isolating Iran from one of its most important commercial hubs, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Bank Melli Iran's branch in Hamburg remains open despite EU sanctions that Germany says apply to the Iranian state-owned bank's German operation, as Washington steps up pressure for its foreign branches to be closed.
Iran's drawdown of strategic fuel reserves has reached a “red alert” level and could exhaust remaining stocks within weeks, fueling disagreement between President Masoud Pezeshkian and the Revolutionary Guards, informed sources told Iran International on Wednesday.
Iranians described deepening financial hardship and questioned whether economic pressure can change government policy as the dollar hit a historic 2 million rials, extending the currency's sharp decline on Sunday.
A gasoline policy survey by Iran’s energy optimization chief has reignited debate over how the Pezeshkian administration should tackle the country’s fuel deficit without triggering another politically dangerous price shock.
The United Arab Emirates’ decision to halt all trade and financial transactions with Iran threatens one of Tehran’s most important routes for imports, petroleum-product sales and access to international commercial and financial networks.
With the 60-day period set by the June US-Iran memorandum now over and no final agreement in place, Washington faces a choice between intensifying pressure, renewing major strikes or settling into a prolonged and unstable holding pattern.
Canada has deported a former Iranian Interior Ministry spokesman who served during the deadly crackdown on nationwide protests in November 2019, Global News reported.
Donald Trump’s maximum pressure is usually scored by counting tankers and tracking the rial, but Iran’s budget points to a deeper cost: more than $80 billion in NIOC bank debt and sovereign-fund arrears, repeatedly deferred as Iranians shoulder the burden.
Relatives of some of Iran’s most powerful security figures, including Mohsen Rezaei’s son, were among nine people tied to an oil-sales network that sources say failed to return about $11 billion in proceeds, an Iran International investigation found.
Sanctions can make Iran’s military and nuclear activities costlier and more difficult but cannot bring down the Islamic Republic on their own, former US Treasury official and weapons procurement expert Kerri Bitsoff told Iran International.
Replacing a single ship carrying essential goods to Iran would require about 2,500 trucks, a Chamber of Commerce official warned, saying land routes cannot offset the US maritime blockade and negotiations are the only realistic way to restore trade.
Canada says immigration applications are assessed individually in response to cases of Iranians who completed mandatory military service with the Revolutionary Guards receiving letters warning they could be deemed inadmissible on security grounds.
Ending the Iran war could expose the Islamic Republic to one of its greatest vulnerabilities, experts say, as Tehran confronts a battered post-war economy that may strain its ability to finance the institutions underpinning its rule.
The United States imposed fresh sanctions targeting Iran’s financial networks Friday even as US officials said progress had been made toward a deal with Tehran over the Strait of Hormuz and it could be clinched as early as the weekend.
An Iranian state-owned bank has frozen accounts belonging to the National Iranian Oil Company over outstanding debt obligations, the IRGC-affiliated Fars news agency reported on Wednesday.
Iran is exploring using two of Pakistan’s ports to keep trade moving amid the US blockade of its own ports, a senior Iranian official said on Tuesday.
An illicit Iranian gambling network helped move at least $4 billion through an unlicensed Dubai-based cryptocurrency exchange that also handled funds for sanctioned Iranian institutions, a Reuters investigation found.
The United States has offered a reward of up to $15 million for information that disrupts the financial mechanisms of Iran's Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), focusing on a company Washington says plays a key role in producing drones used by Tehran and its regional allies.