‘Economic’ D-Day to Hit Iran as Trump Administration Launches ‘Operation Economic Outcast’
According to US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, “America is no longer managing the Iranian threat. We are ending it.” The Trump administration has announced Operation Economic Outcast, a mission to further punish Iran for refusing to bend the knee to the US.
By imposing sanctions against countries that maintain a relationship with Iran, the goal of the US is to “[asphyxiate] the regime,” isolating it completely from the global economy, which the US effectively rules.
While the US wants Iran to end its nuclear program and fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz, Iran is calling for the US to “end its blockade of Iranian ports, lift economic sanctions and release Iran’s frozen assets,” alongside receiving reparations for damage caused by US-Israeli aggression including school bombings and the destruction of essential civilian infrastructure such as water treatment plants and hospitals.
Treasury Secretary Bessent boasts imposing “the toughest sanctions in history” with Operation Economic Outcast, describing it as the “financial equivalent” of a bombing campaign. Details regarding the 60 entities and individuals who may face secondary sanctions have not been shared, but Bessent explained that “every country has a defined timeline to shut down activities.”
It’s said that Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have been in conversation with unnamed counterparts regarding Operation Economic Outcast. Following a phone call between Rubio and the UAE National Security Advisor, the UAE has now announced it will be halting all trade and financial transactions with Iran.
While Trump criticized previous administrations for relying on sanctions to try to hold Iran accountable through the use of sanctions in a recent speech, he seems to think sanctioning Iran even harder (italics) will do the trick this time. The current inflation rate Iranians face is now at 88.6%.
Esmail Baghaei, the spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, took to social media to expose the US playbook: “Whenever Washington proves itself incapable of pursuing diplomacy, it retreats into sanctions; and whenever those sanctions fail to produce results, it simply increases the dose… The real risk is that American politicians, clinging to this bad habit, will instead strangle their own remaining chances of a less humiliating exit from a crisis of their own making.”
Sources:
https://apnews.com/article/trump-iran-sanctions-d96e3bf53eb4050097e6cab128db82cb
https://apnews.com/article/iran-us-strait-hormuz-august-10-2026-0bdaae8f1d7b781918e76dca4317c897
https://www.warcosts.org/iran-destruction
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/trump-unleashes-swathe-sanctions-iran-enablers
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/us-vows-collapse-iran-new-sanctions-energy-prices-spike
https://apnews.com/article/iran-us-strait-hormuz-august-10-2026-0bdaae8f1d7b781918e76dca4317c897
National Forests Under Threat of Destruction by Industrial Development
The US Forest Service has begun the process to rescind the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule in order to allow 45M acres of national forests to be destroyed by logging, drilling, and road construction.
“[The rule] is the only thing preventing much of our wildest remaining national forests from industrial development. These forests offer critical habitat for wildlife, provide clean, fresh air and water for millions and contain vast swathes of the last remaining old-growth forests in the country,” said Alex Craven, Forest Campaign Manager for the Sierra Club.
Tom Schultz, the Forest Service Chief, has made claims that by removing this rule, they will be able to manage wildfires easier by developing roads, but does not address the risk of business enterprises taking this opportunity to over develop the land and increase ignitions that create more risk of wildfires.
Sources:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/18/trump-administration-growth-forests
Second Filton Trial Leads to No Charges for Seven Palestine Action Activists
After facing months of repression and dehumanizing treatment from jail guards, the second trial group for the Filton 25 in the UK has led to seven out of eight activists not getting charged with any crime. All eight had the violent disorder charges dropped with one defendant getting a definitive “not guilty” charge for violent disorder. Only one person was charged with criminal damage. While the defendants in this case may face a retrial, this is still a huge win.
At least one defendant was on a hunger strike due to the jail refusing to meet basic demands for her treatment.
This trial, and previous trials for the Filton 25, including for the four members who were slapped with terrorism charges by a judge without informing the jury, was for the action against the Elbit Systems factory in Filton, England. Six people disrupted production by driving a van into the factory and destroying the machinery with a sledgehammer. Weapons from Elbit Systems factories go directly to the genocide in Palestine.
This is proof for those of us in the belly of the beast that we must fight back in the face of repression and that it is possible to win in the face of repression. It is not just right to rebel, it is our duty to rebel against the genocidal imperialist system that wages war upon the people of the world.
Sources:
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/palestine-action-prisoner-hunger-strike-family-health
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2dk657dky1o
https://novaramedia.com/2026/08/20/jury-refuses-to-convict-palestine-action-activists/
https://www.instagram.com/p/DcOEOioAlei/
US Imposes New Sanctions Against Cuba
The Trump administration has implemented a new wave of sanctions against Cuba. This comes as part of an already crippling blockade that started in February, resulting in a deepening humanitarian crisis that has already led to a doubling in the infant mortality rate, according to a June United Nations report.
This newest round of sanctions was aimed at the mining, metallurgy, motor vehicles, trade and labor contracting sectors, specifically targeting nine Cuban companies. In addition to the trade sanctions, Secretary of State Marco Rubio also announced personal sanctions against three leaders of the ICAP, or Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples. Rubio accused the organization of sponsoring a “vast subversive network in the United States aimed at identifying, cultivating, and radicalizing” Americans. Earlier this year, the ICAP worked with ship convoys hoping to alleviate the crisis caused by the blockade.
Trump has said outright that Cuba will be the next country to fall following the takeover of Venezuela’s government, and it’s difficult to not take this threat seriously given the gravity of the blockades being imposed. A UN report recently highlighted the comparison that Cuba could become a “silent Gaza” if the sanctions continue as is, a reality that grows closer with every new blackout and medicine shortage. Cuba remains a microcosm for the brutality and disregard for the people of the world that is defining a reinvigorated Monroe Doctrine being carried out by the Trump administration, not just in the Caribbean but all through Latin America.
Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/20/us/politics/trump-cuba-sanctions.html
https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/08/1168094
https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/us-imposes-more-sanctions-cuba-2026-08-20
Behind Enemy Lines 