The United States imposed additional sanctions on Iran on Tuesday as the war kept grinding through diplomacy, shipping, and regional security, while the State Department prepared to send diplomats back to some Middle East posts that had been emptied or cut back during the conflict. The machinery of state power keeps moving. People, ports, and embassies get rearranged around it.
The drawdown began after the US and Israel launched their military campaign against Iran on February 28, and Washington ordered nonemergency personnel and family members to leave missions in Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The planned redeployment would mark a shift in Washington’s diplomatic security posture after months of reduced staffing, though not all affected embassies would immediately return to normal operations. That’s the language of administration. The reality is a war that empties offices, reroutes families, and turns diplomacy into another arm of the security state.
Sanctions as a War Tool
The Treasury Department on Monday said it was imposing sanctions on nearly 60 Iran-linked entities, including several based in China, and it stopped short of imposing secondary sanctions on countries that trade with Iran. The sanctions were tied to Iranian military activity and petroleum exports. The National reported that the US announced what it called Operation Economic Outcast to isolate Iran, while Iran portrayed the sanctions as a sign of military failure. Reuters said Iran vowed to retaliate after the US widened sanctions, and noted that Iran retained missile and drone capabilities even after much of its conventional military power had been degraded.
This is what economic warfare looks like when it’s dressed up as policy. The state doesn’t just bomb; it blocks, lists, freezes, and threatens. Then it calls the whole thing stability.
The Strait as a Pressure Point
The Strait of Hormuz remained a central point of friction. The National reported that the top diplomats of Iran and Oman met on Tuesday to discuss a phased approach to managing ship traffic through the strait, which it said remained largely shut down nearly six months after the war began. A joint statement from Iran and Oman said the proposed framework included a “joint temporary navigational corridor” and work to clear mines from the waterway. Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said the two countries had reached an understanding on a temporary route, with traffic into the Persian Gulf from the Gulf of Oman passing entirely through Iranian waters and the outbound route passing partly through Iranian waters and partly through Oman’s territorial waters. He said Iran and Oman would then hold negotiations over 30 to 60 days to “reach an understanding on a new permanent and sustainable route.”
The language is neat. The control is not. A waterway that carries about a fifth of the world’s traded oil before the United States and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28 has become another zone where armed states, mines, and maritime rules decide who moves and who waits.
The National also reported that an oil tanker was disabled in an attack off Oman’s coast, with the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Organization saying the ship’s engine was disabled and all crew were safe. There were no immediate reports of environmental impact. The report said Iran periodically fires at vessels attempting to transit the strait to enforce its control of the waterway, though there was no immediate claim for Monday’s attack. It also said the US has fired on vessels while imposing a blockade of Iranian ports. Same corridor, different uniforms. The civilians and crews caught in the middle don’t get a vote.
Diplomacy Under the Gun
The diplomatic fallout extended beyond the Gulf. The National said Iran’s president and other senior officials discussed the strait with a delegation from Pakistan that left Tehran on Tuesday following talks on reviving negotiations to end the Iran-U.S. conflict. It also said the US had not ruled out further military strikes around Iran or the Strait of Hormuz, and that US President Donald Trump said last week that no negotiations with Iran were scheduled and that the US naval blockade remained in effect. The report said Trump threatened to bomb Oman if it “gets in the way” of American efforts to reopen the strait.
That’s diplomacy in the age of blockade: negotiations shadowed by threats, and threats backed by ships.
China’s Foreign Ministry was closely following plans announced by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to expand sanctions to entities and individuals linked to Iran, including some based in China. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said China-Iran cooperation “should not be disrupted or undermined,” and said it had conformed with international law. The report said China is one of Iran’s biggest trading partners and purchases the majority of its total oil exports.
The UN maritime agency was also cited as calling for action against piracy in the Gulf of Aden, adding to the wider security concerns surrounding the conflict. Another international body, another appeal, another reminder that the institutions meant to manage the state system mostly arrive after the damage has already been done.