US pressure on Iran’s oil exports deepens economic strain

Tehran, Iran. A U.S. campaign to curb Iran’s oil exports and prevent sanctions evasion is becoming increasingly difficult for Tehran to withstand, according to three senior Iranian sources. The pressure comes as open fighting has resumed between the United States and Iran.

Financial pressure

Washington has intensified economic pressure on Tehran in recent weeks in an effort to secure concessions in any future negotiations that six months of conflict have not achieved.

Iran’s clerical rulers have bypassed sanctions for decades, but the latest U.S. measures have left the country with fewer channels to obtain foreign currency and purchase goods, the sources said.

Efforts to prevent Iran from accessing international financing networks in countries it has long used to keep its economy functioning pose a real and urgent threat, the sources said.

Oil revenue and conflict

The U.S. blockade of Iranian oil exports has entirely cut off Tehran’s main source of revenue, even as more energy continues to reach international markets through the Strait of Hormuz despite Iranian efforts to disrupt the waterway.

The war returned to open fighting this week after U.S. attacks along Iran’s Gulf coast prompted retaliatory Iranian strikes against U.S. bases in Arab states.

Neither side has indicated that it is prepared to make the concessions demanded by the other, leaving the conflict in a costly stalemate. Iran has warned that it could respond to further economic pressure with military escalation.

Domestic economic strain

Iran’s economy was already in crisis before the conflict, with a sharply declining currency and rising inflation. Months of bombing have also created major reconstruction costs for damaged industry and infrastructure.

The financial squeeze is reducing Tehran’s ability to circumvent sanctions, leaving it with less money to pay the high premiums required to evade restrictions illicitly, the sources said.