Iran finds control over the Hormuz strait slipping away but the US is far from becoming victorious

LONDON – With his characteristic preference for boasting, US President Donald Trump announced what he called “the most crushing economic operation ever taken” against Iran, vowing on Aug 20 that the Islamic Republic would suffer “economic warfare and isolation on an unprecedented scale” and threatening any state whose “financial institutions, businesses, airports, or government entities” offered Iran “any type of lifeline” with “TREMENDOUS Economic Consequences”.Tehran’s official response was to yawn. The Fars news agency run by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) dismissed the Trump threats as “delusional”, noting that all previous US administrations for over two decades predicted the Islamic Republic’s imminent financial collapse.