Iranians Admit Trump’s Blockade Is Working

Excerpt

Your editorial “Trump’s Blockade Keeps the Economic Pressure on Iran” (Aug. 11) makes the right call: keep the blockade on. What’s remarkable is that Tehran keeps proving your point for you.

Majid Reza Hariri, who heads Iran’s own Chamber of Commerce with China, told the outlet Khabaronline that shipping a container overland now costs $12,000 by land versus $3,000 by sea, an extra $9,000 a box across roughly two million containers a year—or about $18 billion in added costs. He said Iran’s $50 billion in non-oil exports produces only $10 billion in profit, so the blockade surcharge alone can wipe that out. His verdict: The 40-day war did less damage to Iran’s economy than the blockade is doing now.

Miad Maleki is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.