[News] US officials boast their illegal sanctions 'collapsed' Iran's economy, causing high inflation and protests
Anti-Imperialist News
news at freedomarchives.org
Thu Feb 12 10:21:29 EST 2026
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent boasted Trump's illegal "maximum
pressure" sanctions seek to "collapse" Iran's economy by cutting off oil
exports, fueling inflation: "Making Iran broke again".
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US officials boast their illegal sanctions 'collapsed' Iran's economy,
causing high inflation and protests
<https://substack.com/app-link/post?publication_id=457596&post_id=187172932&utm_source=post-email-title&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=lvppb&token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjozNjc1MTU4MywicG9zdF9pZCI6MTg3MTcyOTMyLCJpYXQiOjE3NzA4OTczODcsImV4cCI6MTc3MzQ4OTM4NywiaXNzIjoicHViLTQ1NzU5NiIsInN1YiI6InBvc3QtcmVhY3Rpb24ifQ.NJshrzw5Ce9C9cx98vx4IJsUE3IMJApBkjQz_AYBtbg>
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent boasted Trump's illegal
"maximum pressure" sanctions seek to "collapse" Iran's economy by
cutting off oil exports, fueling inflation: "Making Iran broke again".
Ben Norton <https://substack.com/@benjaminnorton>
Feb 12, 2026
<https://substack.com/@benjaminnorton>
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Donald Trump has openly called for “regime change” in Iran
<https://substack.com/redirect/66182e65-b13e-49a4-a080-aa7a5a89a69c?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>.
He has surrounded the country
<https://substack.com/redirect/f1fb7543-a64e-4abd-b8d4-ee3608e4ee6f?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>with
what he calls a “massive armada
<https://substack.com/redirect/2237539d-8d0d-4a10-970e-d0ddbf0edadc?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>”,
and has suggested that he wants to kill Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah
Ali Khamenei.
While Trump threatens to bomb Iran again
<https://substack.com/redirect/10df4af3-4b24-4848-9dbd-a9ded92afbb6?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>,
after attacking it in 2025, the US government has been dropping
devastating economic bombs on the nation.
Top US government officials boast that they are trying to “collapse”
Iran’s economy.
The Trump administration is waging what it calls a “maximum pressure”
campaign
<https://substack.com/redirect/b6438839-dfd5-4019-9e36-390a403c822d?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>against
Tehran, which the White House says is “aimed at driving Iran’s oil
exports to zero”.
Washington’s strategy is to starve Iran of export revenue by sabotaging
its oil industry. By denying Tehran access to hard currency, the US aims
to cause high rates of inflation and destroy the value of Iran’s
currency, the rial.
This US economic warfare does great harm not only the Iranian
government, but to all of the 93 million Iranians who live in the
country. Civilians are bearing the brunt of the pain.
<https://substack.com/redirect/7cb9b5d1-cf5f-4790-8e62-f1ee4adfbd8c?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on “making Iran broke again”
Washington’s strategy for scorched-earth economic warfare was clearly
spelled out by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, a billionaire
hedge-fund manager
<https://substack.com/redirect/860fd542-f481-4a58-9f9c-f32a23c1c832?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>from
Wall Street.
In an interview with Fox News
<https://substack.com/redirect/fe3e9ecc-8330-45f3-af18-0783baacd08c?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>in
January, anchor Maria Bartiromo asked Bessent about the impact of the
sanctions that the US government has imposed on Iran.
Bessent bragged that these unilateral coercive measures, which
flagrantly violate international law
<https://substack.com/redirect/2e1fb21e-a606-408e-aeab-c5b3b0006514?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>,
have caused Iran to run out of dollars, which means Iran cannot pay for
imports or stabilize its currency, leading to significant inflation.
“Their economy collapsed”, Bessent gloated. The top US official then
took credit for the violent protests and riots in Iran
<https://substack.com/redirect/fb0e8739-3d4d-46c0-950f-0a7ce3f3b008?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>.
These were Bessent’s full remarks (all emphasis added):
*MARIA BARTIROMO*: What do you want to say about sanctions?
Something else you’ve been working on, of course. What are you
planning there in terms of Iran, and the impact there? Do sanctions
actually work?
And the same question with regard to 500% secondary sanctions or
tariffs on countries who purchase energy products from Russia.
*SCOTT BESSENT*: OK, so two things here. There are Treasury
sanctions. And if you look at a speech that I gave at the Economic
Club of New York last March [2025], I said that I believe *the
Iranian currency was on the verge of collapse*, that if I were an
Iranian citizen, I would take my money out.
President Trump ordered Treasury and OFAC division, Office of
Foreign Asset Control, to put “maximum pressure” on Iran.
And it’s worked. Because, in December, *their economy collapsed.*
*We saw a major bank go under. The central bank has started to print
money. There is a dollar shortage. They are not able to get imports.*
*And this is why the people took to the street.*
So this is economic statecraft. No shots fired.
In the Fox News interview, Bessent cited a speech that he delivered at
the Economic Club of New York
<https://substack.com/redirect/1bea17a5-7272-4294-b497-61d43d93b455?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>in
March 2025.
In those remarks, the US Treasury secretary admitted that the Trump
administration’s “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran was “designed to
collapse its already buckling economy”.
This is what Bessent said:
Last month, the White House announced its “maximum pressure”
campaign on Iran, *designed to collapse its already buckling the
economy*.
The Iranian economy is in disarray: 35% official inflation —
official inflation — a currency that has depreciated 60% in the last
12 months, and an ongoing energy crisis.
I know a few things about currency devaluations. And *if I were an
Iranian, I would get all of my money out of the rial, now.*
In the same address at the Economic Club of New York
<https://substack.com/redirect/33af6dd2-11bb-40e0-803a-7607cb97655f?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>,
Bessent vowed: “We will close off Iran’s access to the international
financial system, by targeting regional parties that facilitate the
transfer of its revenues”.
“Our maximum pressure campaign [is] designed to collapse Iranian oil
exports”, he said.
“We are going to shut down Iran’s oil sector”, he declared.
Bessent then quipped, “Making Iran broke again will mark the beginning
of our updated sanctions policy”.
“If economic security is national security, the regime in Tehran will
have neither”, he added.
<https://substack.com/redirect/a5d224d5-0272-425d-9062-1858f9c2c167?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>
When Bessent gave this speech at the Economic Club of New York, he was
surrounded by Wall Street executives. They applauded with glee as he
vowed to “collapse” Iran’s economy.
Sitting directly behind Bessent on stage was the billionaire oligarch
Stephen Schwarzman, who is CEO of Blackstone, the largest alternative
asset manager on earth, which is known for its massive private-equity arm.
Blackstone is the largest landlord in the United States. The Wall Street
firm owns more than 300,000 rental housing units
<https://substack.com/redirect/844000f3-39b2-4651-8f51-a77f52798ae1?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>in
the US.
Schwarzman also happened to be one of the main funders of Trump’s
presidential campaign.
After Trump won the 2024 election, Bloomberg noted that the billionaire
oligarch’s “bet pays off”
<https://substack.com/redirect/ed1ccd78-3bb8-4aa8-8bfc-000c6e4b8fc3?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>,
and that the Wall Street executive would be “well-positioned to
influence business, tax policies”.
<https://substack.com/redirect/0d86b587-2972-4ca6-bb71-291e16b0fa4d?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>
Billion oligarch Stephen Schwarzman, CEO of Blackstone, sitting behind
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent during his speech on “collapsing”
Iran’s economy
Close correlation between US sanctions and inflation
The US Treasury secretary’s admission that Washington is intentionally
trying to cause hyperinflation in Iran is extremely revealing.
Western media outlets and pundits often blame the high rates of
inflation in sanctioned countries like Iran on corruption and
mismanagement.
However, it is not a coincidence that many of the countries with the
highest rates of inflation on Earth have been sanctioned by the United
States and the West more broadly, including Venezuela, Zimbabwe, Sudan,
and Iran.
<https://substack.com/redirect/7f87cbee-5b37-49d7-bcb5-485f5bab892c?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>
The US government has waged brutal economic warfare against these
countries, seeking to deny them access to the dollar-dominated
international financial system and collapse their local currencies.
Corruption and mismanagement are not irrelevant (and they exist in every
country), but they distract from the most important factor: sanctions.
In the case of Iran, a look at World Bank data
<https://substack.com/redirect/cf40b9a6-5062-4f0c-b3d7-d4e06388dd5e?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>shows
that there is a very close correlation between US sanctions and inflation.
<https://substack.com/redirect/c4f70d06-fbbf-47ca-99d1-9aef2bdd15db?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>
It should be emphasized that the US economic war against Iran is
bipartisan, and it did not start under Donald Trump.
When the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations imposed illegal
unilateral coercive measures on Iran, they also contributed to high
levels of inflation.
In the 2000s, before the US massively escalated its sanctions on Iran,
the country’s inflation rate was relatively low, bottoming at 10% in 2006.
That year, in October, the Bush administration imposed heavy sanctions
on Iran
<https://substack.com/redirect/ecb434b9-91e7-4ba6-bfd3-860f98bbe026?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>and
threatened to sanction non-US oil and gas companies that invested in the
country.
This scared off foreign investors and trading partners, while
significantly increasing transaction and insurance costs for Iranian
firms. Inflation promptly shot up to 17.3% in 2007 and 25.4% in 2008.
Iran managed to get inflation under control by 2010, when it fell to 10.1%.
However, in July of that year, the Obama administration hit Iran with
heavy sanctions
<https://substack.com/redirect/f97629d9-009a-41b7-bee7-7e421a036e26?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>,
while also threatening sanctions on foreign financial institutions and
companies that worked with the country.
Unsurprisingly, inflation skyrocketed over the next three years, rising
to 26.3% in 2011 and 27.3% in 2012, before peaking at 36.6% in 2013.
In 2012, the Obama White House published
<https://substack.com/redirect/438df3b4-9c20-42f8-83f0-cc2bf5562744?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>a
sadistic press release boasting of how its illegal sanctions were
“grinding the Iranian economy to a halt” and “crippling” it.
Obama stated:
Because of our efforts, Iran is under greater pressure than ever
before… Few thought that sanctions could have an *immediate bite*on
the Iranian regime. They have, slowing the Iranian nuclear program
and virtually *grinding the Iranian economy to a halt*in 2011. Many
questioned whether we could hold our coalition together as we moved
against Iran’s Central Bank and oil exports. But our friends in
Europe and Asia and elsewhere are joining us. And in 2012, the
Iranian government faces the prospect of *even more crippling
sanctions*.
However, in 2014, inflation in Iran cooled off significantly. This was
likely due in large part to the interim agreement that Iran signed
<https://substack.com/redirect/43d50761-8e4d-486d-a84a-8c6f2c9fd7ec?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>with
Western countries in November 2013, as part of the negotiations for the
Iran nuclear deal.
Then, in 2015, Iran and the P5+1 countries (the five permanent members
of the UN Security Council plus Germany and the European Union) signed
the final version of the nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive
Plan of Action (JCPOA).
The JCPOA was written into international law with UN Security Council
resolution 2231.
This agreement lifted sanctions on Iran — and, immediately after,
inflation fell, reaching the lowest point in decades in 2016, at just 7.2%.
<https://substack.com/redirect/0ac34f7b-fab4-4d23-8a01-b46152e81792?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>
The signatories of the Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA) in 2015
However, Trump came into office for his first term as US president in
2017, and in May 2018, he unilaterally withdrew from the JCPOA
<https://substack.com/redirect/5eb5f9f2-6dcc-4684-894a-8ba056a761bf?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>,
sabotaging the agreement, and reimposed sanctions on Iran, in clear
violation of international law.
Inflation in Iran then shot up to 39.9% in 2019.
The Covid-19 pandemic hit in 2020, and Iran has struggled with high
rates of inflation (around 40%) ever since, as US sanctions have ripped
through the economy.
The correlation is very clear. And US officials have not even tried to
hide the fact that their unlawful sanctions have caused inflation in
Iran. Treasury Secretary Bessent is proud of it.
US Under Secretary of State Jacob S. Helberg, a hardline neoconservative
hawk, bragged on Twitter
<https://substack.com/redirect/bb4aa990-f8bd-4f8c-9213-5a54920ce926?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>that
“President Trump’s strategy of MAXIMUM PRESSURE has brought the regime
to its knees [sic]”.
Helberg did not mention the tens of millions of Iranian civilians who
are suffering from this brutal US economic warfare, which has
intentionally wrecked their currency and has thus eliminated their
purchasing power, while causing shortages of crucial goods.
<https://substack.com/redirect/ce138754-cc78-4d5c-996a-97acc3a2fd8e?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>
UN experts: US sanctions are illegal and violate human rights
Independent experts on international law have said for many years that
US sanctions on Iran are illegal, and violate human rights.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
(OHCHR) has published many reports denouncing US sanctions.
A 2019 press release stated that the “imposition of unilateral coercive
measures on Cuba, Venezuela and Iran by the United States” and “the use
of economic sanctions for political purposes violates human rights and
the norms of international behaviour
<https://substack.com/redirect/2e1fb21e-a606-408e-aeab-c5b3b0006514?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>”.
“Such action may precipitate man-made humanitarian catastrophes of
unprecedented proportions”, the OHCHR warned.
Prominent American economists calculated that illegal US sanctions on
Venezuela caused at least 40,000 deaths
<https://substack.com/redirect/2ef6d69b-b8bc-42dd-ba1a-48f9d2538d2a?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>from
2017 to 2018, in a conservative estimate.
The top UN expert on unilateral coercive measures, Special Rapporteur
Idriss Jazairy, stressed, “Regime change through economic measures
likely to lead to the denial of basic human rights and indeed possibly
to starvation has never been an accepted practice of international
relations”.
In another publication in 2022, a group of UN experts said that US
sanctions were violating the human rights of all Iranians
<https://substack.com/redirect/aa4d620f-c6ac-43a1-8176-377105e54ad5?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>.
“It is time for sanctions that impede Iran’s ability to improve the
environment and reduce the ill effects on health and life, to be eased
or lifted completely so that Iranians can access their right
<https://substack.com/redirect/523942a2-d75b-4d35-adde-15017c2fd421?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>to
a clean environment, the right to health and to life, and other rights”,
the UN experts wrote.
<https://substack.com/redirect/f88a1546-b0a3-4f26-84fc-d6cf4d6c2bd0?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>
Western politicians, such as Andrew Yang, insist that “the US should
help the people of Iran
<https://substack.com/redirect/9ab095a0-b3d8-4ba7-83fd-557bd4f3f63a?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>”.
If they truly wanted to help the Iranian people, the most effective —
and easiest — thing they could do would be to lift the illegal sanctions
that they have imposed on Iran, which have intentionally devastated the
economy and caused extreme suffering to tens of millions of civilians.
Like
<https://substack.com/app-link/post?publication_id=457596&post_id=187172932&utm_source=substack&isFreemail=true&submitLike=true&token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjozNjc1MTU4MywicG9zdF9pZCI6MTg3MTcyOTMyLCJyZWFjdGlvbiI6IuKdpCIsImlhdCI6MTc3MDg5NzM4NywiZXhwIjoxNzczNDg5Mzg3LCJpc3MiOiJwdWItNDU3NTk2Iiwic3ViIjoicmVhY3Rpb24ifQ.J-CDdsFCdbxy2QZxnL09pS6ZUoCm3IHT0tapXD_XvXc&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=email-reaction&r=lvppb>
Comment
<https://substack.com/app-link/post?publication_id=457596&post_id=187172932&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&isFreemail=true&comments=true&token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjozNjc1MTU4MywicG9zdF9pZCI6MTg3MTcyOTMyLCJpYXQiOjE3NzA4OTczODcsImV4cCI6MTc3MzQ4OTM4NywiaXNzIjoicHViLTQ1NzU5NiIsInN1YiI6InBvc3QtcmVhY3Rpb24ifQ.NJshrzw5Ce9C9cx98vx4IJsUE3IMJApBkjQz_AYBtbg&r=lvppb&utm_campaign=email-half-magic-comments&action=post-comment&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email>
Restack
<https://substack.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.mVPfa5MnCXQK3Vng8hhbzor159c5G8h8-ZZrXZeriY8?&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email>
© 2026 Benjamin Norton
548 Market Street PMB 72296, San Francisco, CA 94104
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