NEWSWEEK
The Fruits Of ‘Maximum Pressure’: An Increasingly Isolated Iran
by Ilan Berman
June 25, 2020

…Iran, by rights a bona fide energy superpower, has seen its global oil trade dry up over the past year as a result of American pressure. As recently as 2018, according to official figures compiled by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, Iran generated more than $60 billion in annual revenue from the sale of oil abroad. But last year, as Iranian officials have disclosed, that figure dwindled to just $8 billion as a result of U.S. sanctions—thereby robbing the country’s clerical regime of funds it desperately needs in order to stay afloat.The problems for Iran don’t stop there. American sanctions are also profoundly chilling foreign investment in the Islamic Republic. READ MORE