Sovereignty Support Movement Sovereignty for West Asia
by Sara Flounders, published on Workers World, August 24, 2026
How will Iran survive the latest round of what President Donald Trump calls “draconian sanctions” that promise to be the most extreme strangulation ever imposed?
Iran has developed highly sophisticated, high tech, asymmetric, low-cost, well hidden weapons to defend their country against U.S.-Israeli bombing. Now even the U.S. corporate media admits that the vast number of U.S. bases throughout West Asia and the Persian Gulf are vulnerable and not sustainable.
Iran has designed not only its military but its entire economy for over 47 years to withstand U.S. sanctions. U.S. sanctions are designed to strangle the country economically, deny technical development and modernization and through chronic shortages instigate uprising and division in the population.
Iran is approaching 200 days of this stage of U.S.-instigated war, harsh rounds of new sanctions, a blockade and targeted attacks on civilian infrastructure. But in reality, Iran has withstood 47 years, or over 17,000 days, of sanctions and deliberate efforts to overturn its Islamic Republic. Through sanctions the U.S. has blocked $120 billion of Iran’s assets.
Iran has not only survived, it has managed to build a modern industrial society with a healthy and highly educated population. Iran is in the top tier globally in the number of scientific, technical and engineering graduates. More than half of these graduates are women. (latimes.com, June 3, 2026)
To survive economically, Iran has turned to numerous alternative routes, trucking goods from neighboring Pakistan and Turkey as well as shipping cargo from Russia, an ally, through the Caspian Sea, while sending oil by high-speed rail to China, a key trading partner.
Iran has relied for decades on decentralized exchange networks, barter agreements and what is called hawala — an informal trust-based funds or equivalents transfer system dating back to the ninth century — and on modern cryptocurrency to maintain cross-border trade.
These alternative systems have supplied the Iranian economy with a wide variety of consumer goods, food, essential medicines and industrial materials. While these tactics might seem expensive and cumbersome, they exist outside the measurements and constraints of the U.S. dollar-dominated global economy.
These unofficial exchanges continue to function even when countries and banking institutions officially submit to U.S. sanctions. Thousands of small merchants and traders across many borders make their own rules.
Trump’s newest threats and Iran’s response
In an Aug. 19 post on Truth Social, Trump wrote: “I am announcing the MOST CRUSHING ECONOMIC OPERATION EVER TAKEN AGAINST ANY COUNTRY! This will be Economic Warfare and Isolation on an unprecedented scale.” He demanded that all U.S. allies participate in what he termed “draconian sanctions and an economic D-Day” and warned that entities continuing to conduct business with Iran could face penalties. (truthsocial.com)
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent claimed: “It is a one-two punch. We are going to collapse this regime.” (thehill.com, Aug. 22)
Iranian Foreign Affairs Minister Abbas Araghchi answered: “The so-called ‘Economic D-Day’ is a diversion from America’s own crisis: unprecedented debt and surging interest costs. Doubling down on failed policies will only bring further defeat — and enmity of Iranians. U.S. economic terrorism threatens the global economy and sovereignty worldwide.” (x.com, Aug. 20)
Iran’s Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council Mohsen Rezaei said: “The world has realized that Trump’s bluster is nothing but empty talk. … Iran will not yield to U.S. pressure. … We will see changes in the conduct of the war, in diplomacy, and in political and social affairs, and new capabilities will be brought into play.” (CNN, Aug. 23)
Looking at the whole map of Iran
Most of the media and U.S. analysts only look at a small section of the map of Iran that borders on the Persian Gulf and especially the Strait of Hormuz choke point when discussing a blockade of Iran. This is a narrow view, focused on a tiny portion of a map — the source of U.S. oil profits.
Iran is a country of 93 million people. Over 70% of them live in modern urban centers. Iran has nearly 3,700 miles of land borders with seven countries. It has a 430 miles-long coastline along the Caspian Sea, connecting it to Central Asia and Russia. The Caspian Sea is the world’s largest inland sea, and it is outside the reach of Western naval forces.
Iran’s southern coastline is on the Persian Gulf, inside the Strait of Hormuz. However its south-east coast, the Makran coast, is on the Sea of Oman, past the Strait of Hormuz, stretching for 850 kilometers (530 miles) to Pakistan. This coast includes the still operating deep sea port of Chabahar with open access to the Indian Ocean and numerous other smaller ports.
Months ago the U.S.-funded media mouthpiece Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty reminded U.S. officials and war planners of this more complex reality. It pointed out that: “Iran is turning to alternatives, including exporting oil by rail to China, which buys around 90% of Iran’s supplies, according to Hamid Hosseini, spokesman for Iran’s oil exporters union.” (rferl.org, April 23)
Iran’s public plans
An article by Iranian epidemiologist and scholar Yousef Ramazani titled “Iran’s military and strategic options to thwart — and break — the illegal U.S. naval blockade” proudly provides many military and economic details.
“Tehran possesses a broad array of military capabilities and alternative trade routes that could make the blockade hard to sustain, forcing Washington to choose between escalation, prolonged confrontation or retreat.
“Iran has also developed alternative overland and maritime trade routes that can bypass the blockade, creating a parallel economic infrastructure capable of sustaining the country through a prolonged confrontation.
“These routes, developed in cooperation with Russia, China and other Eurasian partners, represent a pivot away from maritime chokepoints toward overland corridors that are immune to naval interdiction. …
“Russia and Iran have also expanded their Caspian shipping network, transforming it into what officials describe as a sanctions corridor.
“Roughly two million tons of Russian wheat are now flowing to Iran through the Caspian alone, underscoring the route’s importance for both essential supplies and military logistics.
“By denominating shipments in yuan, China has embedded this corridor within its broader Belt and Road routes and ensured an uninterrupted flow of hydrocarbons and strategic goods.”
This Iranian article concludes: “The fundamental contest between Iran and the United States over the naval blockade is ultimately a contest of will, where the side with the greater motivation and tolerance for cost will prevail.
“For Iran, it is a matter of national survival and sovereignty; for the United States, it is a strategic choice.” (Press TV, Aug. 22)
Sara Flounders is an American political writer who has been active in ‘progressive’ and anti-war organizing since the 1960s. Sara is Co-Director of the International Action Center (IAC), a member of the Secretariat of Workers World Party and a member of the United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC) Administrative Committee. She also frequently writes for Workers World newspaper and publishes articles on the International Action Center website.
