Economic sanctions on Iran a ‘wiser choice’ for Trump as military victory appears ‘out of reach’

​Former US State Department Sanctions Policy Coordinator Daniel Fried sees US President Donald Trump’s economic sanctions on Iran as a “wiser choice” than pursuing a military victory. ​“It is perfectly reasonable to put economic pressure on Iran; in fact, that probably would have been a better choice of policy than going to war,” Mr Fried told News24. ​“I have some sympathy for Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent; he announced the new sanctions policy yesterday; he took quite a lot of flak because he didn’t announce specifics. ​“But it is probably a wiser choice to fall back to economic sanctions and give ourselves more time to put pressure on what is a bad regime, rather than go all out for a stunning military victory, which appears out of reach, at least in the short term.”