US President Donald Trump threatened to expand his use of economic pressure to end the war in Iran, warning countries that traded with Tehran of severe consequences.
Yet any such efforts are rife with their own challenges: Dubai, for example, is key to executing the US economic chokehold, given its role as a hub for Iranian trade and finance.
But while the UAE said this week it would cut off economic ties with Iran, actually doing so in full could risk Dubai’s status as a hub for commerce, The Wall Street Journal noted. Still, one Bloomberg columnist wrote, “the route of economic asphyxiation is probably the least bad plan,” before adding: “Needless to say, ‘least bad’ is far from ‘good’.”