Opinion

Trump’s Economic D-Day can hammer Iran, but will Tehran ever surrender?

Maximum pressure sanctions have made Iran poorer, but history shows economic pain alone has never forced Tehran to surrender

By Lt. Col. Robert Maginnis, (ret.) Fox News

Published August 26, 2026 5:00am EDT

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Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warns global banks and China over Iran sanctions

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent delivers a stern warning, stating that any financial institution aiding Iran will be removed from the U.S. dollar system. The administration emphasizes that China is not above U.S. sanctions if it continues to import Iranian crude oil.

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I lived in Europe for years, studying World War II not only in books but on the ground, walking battlefields and cemeteries and listening to veterans who had fought their way across the continent.

For America and our European allies, D-Day was an all-in fight. Survival was at stake. There was no ambiguity about the enemy or the objective.

So, when Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called his new maximum-pressure campaign against Iran an "Economic D-Day," a term he used this week, one question immediately came to mind:

Where is V-E Day?

The real D-Day came on June 6, 1944. Nazi Germany did not surrender until May 8, 1945. That was 11 months later.

D-Day was not victory. It began the final campaign toward victory.

Americans from the 1st U.S. Infantry land on Omaha Beach during the D-Day invasion on June 6, 1944. Omaha Beach was the most difficult of the Normandy landing sites, with 2,400 soldiers killed in the first wave. (Getty Images)

Bessent deserves credit for launching something much more ambitious than another sanctions package. The administration calls it Operation Economic Outcast: an effort to sever Iran’s remaining economic lifelines in shipping, aviation, technology, gold and digital assets, with secondary sanctions threatened against foreign enablers. About 60 individuals, entities and vessels were targeted in the opening round.

TRUMP THREATENS 'UNPRECEDENTED' ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES FOR ANY NATION AIDING IRAN

And there is an important difference from President Donald Trump’s first-term "maximum pressure" campaign: the U.S. Navy.

Previous sanctions made Iranian oil hard to finance, insure and sell. Today, unlike the first-term campaign, the administration is pairing financial pressure with what AP reports is a........

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