Trump Softens Threat to Punish Russia, China for Aiding Iran 8 Days After Warning
Updated
Updated · ms.now · Aug 28
Trump Softens Threat to Punish Russia, China for Aiding Iran 8 Days After Warning
1 articles · Updated · ms.now · Aug 28
Summary
Eight days after vowing “tremendous economic consequences” for any country helping Iran, Donald Trump said punishing Russia or China “depends” when asked about their support for Tehran.
That retreat undercut his threat of the “most crushing economic operation ever” against countries providing Iran financial, commercial or transport lifelines.
Russia was the clearest test case: NBC News reported last week that Moscow has been shipping drone components, ammunition and TNT to Iran through the Caspian Sea, deepening their wartime alliance.
Trump instead said Russia had “behaved quite well” on the Strait of Hormuz and brushed off concerns about China, signaling broad exceptions to a policy he had framed as applying to “any” country.
The reversal weakens the credibility of Washington’s Iran pressure campaign as fresh U.S. intelligence, according to the Washington Post, says the Kremlin sees the United States as weakened by the Iran war.