{"id":1641,"date":"2026-08-25T06:09:04","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T06:09:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationallogisticspost.com\/?p=1641"},"modified":"2026-08-25T06:09:04","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T06:09:04","slug":"trumps-nixon-playbook-squeeze-iran-dare-china-to-blink","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationallogisticspost.com\/?p=1641","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s Nixon Playbook: Squeeze Iran, Dare China to Blink"},"content":{"rendered":"
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I<\/span>n one month, Chinese President Xi Jinping will be in Washington for a summit meeting with President Trump. On Monday, the Trump administration announced tough new economic sanctions \u2014 an \u201ceconomic D-Day\u201d \u2014 against Iran and countries that do business with Iran, including China, which is the major purchaser of Iranian oil.<\/p>\n

Read more Lindsay Clancy and America\u2019s Death Culture<\/a><\/p>\n

China\u2019s Foreign Ministry has publicly opposed new sanctions, calling instead for the \u201crelevant parties to take responsible measures and solve the issues through diplomatic and political means.\u201d The New York Times<\/em> headlined a story on this issue, \u201cWhy China Thinks It Can Resist Trump\u2019s Economic Threats,\u201d while Foreign Policy<\/em> magazine writes that Trump needs China\u2019s help to effectively sanction Iran. CNN warns that Trump\u2019s new economic sanctions could risk upending the approaching summit meeting with Xi.\u00a0(RELATED: Trump\u2019s Iran Gamble: \u2018Economic D-Day\u2019 and the Strait of Hormuz)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has urged China to \u201cget with the program\u201d of putting economic pressure on Iran to end the war. Bessent on Monday said the new sanctions target Iran\u2019s \u201cfive most vital\u201d financial lifelines, and characterized them as \u201ceconomic asphyxiation of [the Iranian]regime.\u201d The potential secondary targets of U.S. sanctions include Chinese banks and oil refineries, and any entities and individuals in China that help Iran evade sanctions. Tariffs are another possible option. There is also speculation that the U.S. could attempt to persuade its allies in the region to impose a land blockade to complement the sea blockade that is already in place near the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n

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A successful summit with Xi is less important than bringing the conflict with Iran to an end.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

Trump clearly wants the upcoming summit meeting with Xi to help stabilize the geopolitical rivalry among the world\u2019s two superpowers. There may be voices within the administration advising Trump to avoid harsh secondary sanctions against China to ensure a \u201cpositive outcome\u201d to the summit. The president should resist such advice and instead follow through with geoeconomic warfare designed to bring Iran to its economic knees. A successful summit with Xi is less important than bringing the conflict with Iran to an end. We have already crippled Iran militarily; now is the time to cripple it economically.<\/p>\n

Arguably, ramping up our geoeconomic warfare against Iran a few weeks before the summit meeting with Xi will help end the Iran war and stabilize relations with China. Here, Trump is following President Richard Nixon\u2019s example in May 1972, when Nixon ordered the mining of Haiphong Harbor and the bombing of Hanoi in the lead-up to a summit meeting with Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev.<\/p>\n

Read more Economic D-Day<\/a><\/p>\n

Nixon wanted to end U.S. participation in the Vietnam War by drawing down American forces there while helping South Vietnamese forces improve their capacity to defend their country \u2014 it was called \u201cVietnamization.\u201d North Vietnamese forces had launched an invasion of the South on Mar. 30, 1972, and the situation looked bleak for our South Vietnamese ally. Haiphong Harbor was where Soviet ships helped supply North Vietnamese forces, and the scheduled summit in Moscow with Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev was scheduled to begin on May 22. Nixon\u2019s critics (and some within the administration) warned that the mining of Haiphong and bombing of Hanoi would result in the Soviets canceling the summit or at best undermining Nixon\u2019s overall policy of d\u00e9tente.<\/p>\n

In his memoirs, Nixon explained his decision to mine Haiphong Harbor and bomb Hanoi: \u201cI believed that it was essential that we take decisive action to cripple the North Vietnamese invasion by interdicting the supplies of fuel and military equipment the enemy needed for its push into South Vietnam.\u201d He faced the issue of how the Soviets would react by writing Brezhnev a letter wherein he reiterated his dedication to d\u00e9tente and explained that U.S. actions in mining Haiphong and bombing Hanoi would not divert him from improving overall U.S.-Soviet relations.<\/p>\n

The military actions ordered by Nixon worked to halt the North Vietnamese advance. The summit in Moscow went ahead as scheduled and was generally considered a success. As the Navy Times<\/em> later noted, \u201cThe mining action, along with the bombing campaigns \u2026 was a key reason that North Vietnam agreed to negotiate a peace deal in Paris.\u201d And Nixon\u2019s successful triangular diplomacy with the USSR and China continued.<\/p>\n

Nixon\u2019s actions were statesmanship of the highest order. Instead of worrying about Soviet reactions, Nixon pursued U.S. interests by taking decisive action that increased U.S. credibility even with our key adversary. And he conducted skillful quiet diplomacy with the Soviets to temper their negative reaction. Trump is doing likewise by imposing harsh and crippling economic sanctions against Iran and secondary sanctions against China and other countries that trade with Iran. The rulers in Beijing will understand (as Soviet leaders learned about Nixon) that this president will do whatever is necessary to put America first.<\/p>\n

Read more Iryna Zarutska, Lindsay Clancy, and the Politics of Who Gets Mourned<\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE from Francis P. Sempa:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Trump is Combining Geoeconomic and Kinetic Warfare Against Iran<\/strong><\/p>\n

Communism, McCarthyism, and the New Red Scare<\/strong><\/p>\n

JFK, the Berlin Wall, and a Cold War Failure<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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