Key facts
- US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced new sanctions against Iran in late August.
- The sanctions target all entities trading with the Islamic Republic of Iran.
- Analysis suggests that modern sanctions have evolved from broad embargos to more targeted measures.
- Early comprehensive sanctions, such as those on Iraq, led to humanitarian catastrophes and "sanctions fatigue."
- Targeted sanctions aim to pressure specific leaders and entities while minimizing harm to civilians.
In late August, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced an 'Economic D-Day' initiative aimed at imposing sanctions on all entities trading with Iran. However, analysis suggests that these new measures may not be effective, prompting questions about the future utility of economic sanctions as a foreign policy tool.
According to analysis, modern sanctions have evolved from broad, economy-wide embargos to more precise instruments targeting specific individuals, elites, and sectors. This shift was partly a response to the failures of earlier, comprehensive sanctions, such as those imposed on Iraq following its 1990 invasion of Kuwait. Those measures, intended to pressure Saddam Hussein's regime, resulted in a humanitarian crisis with hundreds of thousands of excess deaths among children under five, leading to widespread "sanctions fatigue."