Please follow us on Truth Social, X, YouTube, Minds, Telegram, Rumble, GETTR, Gab, Instagram
According to the Wall Street Journal and other sources, the 'survival economy' is what analysts are now calling the Islamic Republic of Iran's pivot to a 'wartime austerity model' designed to outlast the economic warfare imposed by Washington to end the stand-off involving the Hormuz Strait.
The provisions of this 'wartime austerity model' include the rationing of scarce goods, cutting foreign currency availability, slashing investments, and pushing more of the burden to the populace, while preserving the core machinery of the state, and ensuring the continued flow of strategic imports. In this context, the ultimate goal is not the pursuit of economic prosperity. It is rather the ability to endure.
If this goal is what counts as winning, reporting from Drop Site News has shown that Iranian leaders from the military have in fact declared 'victory is on our side' as the Iranian economy, currency, industry, and energy infrastructure have suffered tremendously since the start of the US-Israeli aerial campaign in February 2026.
Trump said in a posting to Truth Social that the US 'has total control' of the Strait of Hormuz and that 'we will keep it'. It seems that the economic siege warfare adopted by the US as opposed to military strikes is the choice the Trump administration has settled on. US Central Command has stated that since the reimposition of the steel wall blockade against Iranian ports on July 13, US naval forces have redirected 59 commercial vessels, disabled three, and boarded two of them.
Pakistan's Interior Minister, Mohsin Naqvi, made his third visit to Tehran on Wednesday. He met President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi while attempting to revive the Memorandum of Understanding that was signed in June. Because of the negotiation window that collapsed, Pakistan is trying to put back together what both sides had previously decided to let fall.
Iran says that it is almost finalizing a deal solely with Oman for the management of the Strait. This would completely take the US out of the equation declares Iranian rhetoric. Iran has said that it will not re-open Hormuz until the demands that include the lifting of all of the US sanctions, the complete withdrawal of the US military from the region, and compensations for war are met.
The consequences of more sanctions are greater inside Iran. Income inequality is increasing, purchasing power is collapsing, and dysfunction is spreading. Despite the situation, the Islamic Republic still anticipates that it will survive economic sanctions.
The theory behind Trump's economic policies towards Iran is that he can wait out Iran till they crack more than the US can wait. Midterm elections are in three months. We will know soon.
The mouse that roared. Trump is walking a tightrope , balancing military-economic objectives against hardships caused to the innocent Iranian population.