President Donald Trump has announced a sweeping ban on all global purchases of Iranian oil and petrochemical products, warning that any individual or nation defying the order will face immediate U.S. secondary sanctions.
In a post on Truth Social Thursday, Trump declared, “They will not be allowed to do business with the United States of America in any way, shape, or form,” reaffirming his administration’s hardline stance against Iran.
The move comes as tensions spike following the postponement of U.S.-Iran nuclear negotiations originally scheduled for Saturday in Rome. An Iranian official said a new date would hinge on Washington’s conduct in the coming days.
Resurrecting the “maximum pressure” campaign first deployed during his previous term, Trump’s administration has reimposed a wide array of sanctions aimed at strangling Tehran’s oil revenue and curbing its nuclear ambitions. Recent penalties have targeted a China-based oil storage facility and an independent refinery suspected of facilitating the sale of Iranian crude.
The goal, according to administration officials, is to reduce Iran’s oil exports to zero and block any financial pathways that could support a nuclear weapons program. However, analysts say meaningful enforcement would likely require the U.S. to extend penalties to powerful third parties—particularly Chinese financial institutions, as China remains the largest importer of Iranian oil.
Secondary sanctions, a key tool in Washington’s economic arsenal, allow the U.S. to cut off access to American markets for any foreign entity doing business with blacklisted regimes, significantly amplifying the global impact of U.S. foreign policy.