• Research
  • Emissary
  • About
  • Experts
Carnegie Global logoCarnegie lettermark logo
DemocracyIran
  • Donate
{
  "authors": [
    "Jarrett Blanc"
  ],
  "type": "legacyinthemedia",
  "centerAffiliationAll": "dc",
  "centers": [
    "Carnegie Endowment for International Peace",
    "Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center"
  ],
  "collections": [
    "Iranian Proliferation"
  ],
  "englishNewsletterAll": "americanStatecraft",
  "nonEnglishNewsletterAll": "",
  "primaryCenter": "Carnegie Endowment for International Peace",
  "programAffiliation": "ASP",
  "programs": [
    "American Statecraft"
  ],
  "projects": [],
  "regions": [
    "North America",
    "United States",
    "Middle East",
    "Iran"
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Political Reform",
    "Security",
    "Foreign Policy",
    "Nuclear Policy"
  ]
}

Source: Getty

In The Media

What Trump Really Just Told the Iranians: He’s Out of Ideas.

The messages Trump is sending make negotiations with Tehran less and less likely and increase the chance of another ruinous war of choice in the Middle East.

Link Copied
By Jarrett Blanc
Published on Jun 27, 2019
Program mobile hero image

Program

American Statecraft

The American Statecraft Program develops and advances ideas for a more disciplined U.S. foreign policy aligned with American values and cognizant of the limits of American power in a more competitive world.

Learn More

Source: Politico

The Trump administration’s announcement this week of plans to impose new sanctions targeting Iranian leaders and organizations—including the Supreme Leader and his office, military commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Foreign Minister Javad Zarif—will have little practical effect, according to sanctions experts. Senior Iranian officials and their organizations are very unlikely to use international financial institutions or hold substantial assets abroad, and those are the major pathways through which the United States exerts coercive economic pressure. In other words, the new sanctions are more symbolic than effective.

This is not a bad thing. Symbolism is useful in international affairs, especially between adversarial countries like Iran and the United States, which lack formal diplomatic relations and need to find other ways to communicate. Intermediaries can be one option, symbolic measures another.

The problem with these new sanctions is not that they are symbolic, but that the messages they convey to Iran and the rest of the world are foolish and dangerous, and will fail to advance U.S. interests.

Here are three messages the Trump administration sent to Iran this week...

Read Full Text

This piece was originally published in Politico.

About the Author

Jarrett Blanc

Former Senior Fellow, Geoeconomics and Strategy Program

Jarrett Blanc was a senior fellow in the Geoeconomics and Strategy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

    Recent Work

  • Research
    Conflict Zones in the Time of Coronavirus: War and War by Other Means
      • +10

      Jarrett Blanc, Thomas de Waal, Karim Sadjadpour, …

  • Commentary
    The Best Books of 2020, as Chosen by Carnegie Scholars
      • +3

      Dan Baer, Rosa Balfour, Jarrett Blanc, …

Jarrett Blanc
Former Senior Fellow, Geoeconomics and Strategy Program
Jarrett Blanc
Political ReformSecurityForeign PolicyNuclear PolicyNorth AmericaUnited StatesMiddle EastIran

Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.

More Work from Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

  • Commentary
    Carnegie Politika
    Control Above Reform: What’s Behind Ukraine’s Government and Security Reshuffle?

    Ultimately, Zelensky sided neither with the reform camp nor with the military establishment as such, but with political control.

      Balázs Jarábik

  • Trump and MBS walking through a doorway
    Commentary
    Emissary
    What We Know About the U.S.-Saudi Nuclear Deal

    Despite the agreement’s uncertainty, it’s still a significant development in regional and nuclear policy.

      • Andrew Leber
      • Jane Darby Menton

      Andrew Leber, Jane Darby Menton

  • Trump and Xi standing next to each other
    Commentary
    Emissary
    A Path Forward on AI Safety for the United States and China

    “AI safety in parallel” is modest and pragmatic but vital.

      Matt Sheehan

  • Commentary
    Strategic Europe
    Why Europe Must Take Charge of its Russia Diplomacy Now

    Trump is distracted and Ukraine wants Europe to step up. The continent’s leaders must find their voice and assert it in talks with Russia.

      Alissa de Carbonnel

  • Supporters of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party wave German flags at a campaign rally in front of the Berlin City Hall on June 29, 2026.
    Paper
    The Alternative für Deutschland and Germany’s Unsettled Place in the World

    Unresolved tensions within the AfD may ultimately constrain the its potential as a leader among European and global populist forces.

      Jeremy Cliffe

Get more news and analysis from
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Carnegie global logo, stacked
1779 Massachusetts Avenue NWWashington, DC, 20036-2103Phone: 202 483 7600
  • Research
  • Emissary
  • About
  • Experts
  • Donate
  • Programs
  • Events
  • Blogs
  • Podcasts
  • Contact
  • Annual Reports
  • Careers
  • Privacy
  • For Media
  • Government Resources
Get more news and analysis from
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
© 2026 Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. All rights reserved.