America's Economic Strike Against Iran

An article by John McGlinn in Japan Focus makes it clear that the U.S. launched an economic strike against Iran on March 20th.

As the article indicates, the economic pressure that the U.S. is bringing to bear on Iran is enormous. There is no doubt in my mind that if another nation deliberately brought such economic hardship on our nation, it would lead to war.

The strategy behind this form of economic warfare is so new to me that I'm not sure how to make an appraisal of it. Here are my preliminary observations.

If the stratgegy is intended to accomplish the administration's objectives without resorting to military force, then it beats the alternative. It still raises concerns, however, about the ways in which a tactic that seemingly amounts to international economic blackmail could be applied in the future. It appears to me that it fails any test for rules of universalizability (i.e. "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you").

If it is designed to prompt a belligerent reaction from Iran that could be used as a pretext for our exercising military force, as I fear that it is, then it is an exceedingly bad idea.

America doesn't need another war to fight in the Middle East.