Axios: New anti-Iranian sanctions fail to shock

WASHINGTON, August 25. /TASS/. The new anti-Iranian sanctions Washington announced on Monday seem to cause little shock or awe President Donald Trump expected them to, the Axios portal said.

According to the portal, these sanctions are yet another extended ultimatum. "After months of apocalyptic threats to bomb Iran into submission, Trump has turned to economic strangulation as his preferred strategy through the midterms," it noted.

Such a strategy has some advantages, since the restrictions and the naval blockade "can keep squeezing Tehran without immediately risking another oil shock or deeper entanglement in an unpopular war," it explained, adding however, that economic pressure depends largely on credibility. "China, Dubai and other remaining gateways to Iran have to believe Trump will eventually impose the enormous costs he's threatening if they refuse to cooperate," it wrote.

"By now the world will have to see it to believe it," it cited the Wall Street Journal editorial board recalling six months of threats, shifting deadlines and predictions of imminent victory in the war against Iran.