Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi dismissed Donald Trump’s threats of economic pain and isolation on Thursday, calling them “failed policies” that would stir more hostility among Iranians and “bring more failures.” The exchange came as Washington threatened what U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called the “greatest coordinated economic isolation in the history of the world,” while Israel pushed ahead with a settlement project near Jerusalem that critics say would cut the occupied West Bank in two.
Economic Warfare by Another Name
Trump promised “Economic Warfare and Isolation on an unprecedented scale,” though he offered few details. A few hours later, Araghchi said in a social media post that the threats were meant to distract the U.S. public from domestic financial problems. He added that U.S. “economic terrorism threatens the global economy and the national sovereignty of countries around the world.” Bessent, speaking in a CNBC interview, said Iran would face the “greatest coordinated economic isolation in the history of the world” and threatened secondary sanctions on nations and companies doing business with Iran. He said it was time for U.S. allies to decide where they stand. China and India are major buyers of Iranian oil, though Bessent did not name them.
That’s the state monopoly on pressure, dressed up as policy. One capital threatens isolation. Another answers with defiance. Ordinary people get the bill.
Settlements, Tenders, and the Usual Machinery
Several countries condemned Israel over a contentious settlement project near Jerusalem. Israel’s Ministry of Construction and Housing issued a tender for several compounds with more than 1,200 homes in total in an open tract of land east of Jerusalem. The project has been under consideration for more than two decades. Critics say it would prevent the establishment of a contiguous Palestinian state in the territory.
British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband called the tender “an unacceptable and destructive act” and denounced “settler violence and terrorism.” In a statement released on Wednesday, he said the British government “demanded an immediate reversal” and had summoned the Israeli chargé d’affaires. Egypt and Jordan also condemned the move, with Cairo saying it would isolate east Jerusalem from its Palestinian surroundings.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar defended “the historic right of the Jewish people to reestablish their national home in the Land of Israel — including in the area in question.” He also criticized Britain’s government for “blaming only Israel while ignoring Palestinian extremism.” The diplomatic script is familiar. One side issues a tender. Others issue statements. The homes keep coming, and so does the paperwork.
Bodies, Rubble, and the War’s Accounting
In Gaza City, a mass funeral Thursday remembered 50 Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes in the opening months of the Israel-Hamas war, whose remains were only recently recovered from under rubble. Dozens of mourners carried the remains, draped in Palestinian flags, through debris-strewn streets before lowering them into graves. Some held portraits and posters with photos of the deceased.
“We were able to recover them after three years of war, after three years of anguish, pain and torture. We were able to recover them, and dignify them in their final resting place. We were able to pray over them and bury them,” said Lina Karam, who lost her father and other members of her family. The 50 bodies were from three families killed in airstrikes in November and December 2023.
The nearly three-year war has killed more than 73,400 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry was part of the Hamas-run government and keeps detailed records viewed as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and international organizations. It doesn’t distinguish between civilians and militants, but says women and children make up around half of the toll. Hamas’s rule, like every other armed authority in the region, leaves its own bureaucratic stamp on death counts. The numbers are tallied. The dead are still dead.
Regional States, Same Old Reflexes
Turkey denied that a Turkish military delegation had visited an air base in northern Syria that was hit by Israeli airstrikes, and vowed to continue supporting Syria in its efforts to rebuild its military. The Israeli strikes targeted the Abu Duhur base early on Tuesday, causing damage but no casualties. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Israel attacked the base because Syria was “on the verge of breaching” an agreed-upon “status quo in security matters” by allowing Turkish troops to deploy there.
Syrian officials said a Turkish delegation visited the base before the strike to review rehabilitation work underway there. Syria’s Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani arrived in Islamabad for talks expected to focus on regional issues, Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. Pakistani officials said the country’s political and military leadership remains in contact with both Iran and the United States over efforts to de-escalate tensions and push for the resumption of talks after a 60-day deadline under a June memorandum of understanding expired. The agreement was brokered by Pakistan with help from regional countries.
The same pattern keeps repeating. Militaries strike. Ministries deny. Governments broker deadlines and call it progress. Then the deadline expires, and the machinery rolls on.
The bodies of two Pakistanis killed in last week’s Houthi attack on a Tanzanian-flagged commercial vessel in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait have been repatriated to Pakistan. Six Pakistani sailors who were injured in the attack have also safely returned to the country, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said in a post on X. Another set of civilians, another set of state and armed-group calculations, another convoy of grief moving through official channels.