At the same time as the announcement of what the government of Donald Trump described as “the most severe sanctions in history” against the Islamic Republic, Reza Talebi, a journalist, said that these sanctions are being imposed in conditions of war, a naval blockade, the suspension of oil exports, and an economic crisis, and in terms of scope and impact they cannot be compared to the sanctions of 2018 and are far more severe.

He added that Abbas Araghchi’s remarks about the sanctions being repetitive are aimed more at domestic consumption and an attempt to normalize the crisis.

He also said that the duality of the positions of the government and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps indicates that the Islamic Republic is trying to move forward simultaneously through diplomacy and military threats, but that the continuation of economic pressure and the intensification of the blockade will pose a serious challenge to the government’s ability to sustain a prolonged confrontation.