Iran Undermines United States Economic Warfare in West Asia

Efforts aimed bringing down the government in Tehran has been outmaneuvered through the controls exerted over the Strait of Hormuz and the work of the Yemen resistance in Bab al-Mandeb waterway

By Abayomi Azikiwe

Editor, Pan-African News Wire

Wednesday September 30, 2026

Geostrategic Analysis

Since January 2026 the United States administration of President Donald Trump has been attempting to crash the economy of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

There was the manipulation of the currency within the country by the Treasury Department while counter-revolutionary elements engaged in violent acts designed to prompt an uprising throughout the country.

These events proceeded the unprovoked war started by Israel and the US on February 28 when an elementary school was bombed in Minab killing school children and staff totaling approximately 175 people. Nonetheless, the Iranian military struck back severely damaging and incapacitating Pentagon military bases throughout the region as well as strikes deep inside the Israeli state. 

The Strait of Hormuz has been essential in the defense of the Iranian state. Iran has controlled traffic in the area blocking the passage of goods which are indispensable to the world economic system. 

Prices for energy resources, food and agricultural products have skyrocketed since March. The administration in the US has downplayed the escalation in prices saying that Trump will end the war after the midterm elections.

Maritime activity by the US has been largely unsuccessful in fully reopening the Strait of Hormuz to match what existed prior to the war. Trump says that the US Navy has prevented Iran from exporting its oil to trading partners.

However, Iran has rejected these claims by the US and its allies and continues to say that they are striking vessels which do not have permission to cross the Strait. Hossein Mohebbi, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps spokesperson, noted on September 30 that the military was still involved in defensive operations in the Strait of Hormuz.

Qatar, which is attempting to mediate an agreement between Washington and Iran to reopen the strategic shipping route, said that a deal has not been reached. Despite the Trump administration efforts to minimize the damage done as a direct result of the war, Qatar, a close US ally, has a totally different assessment of the current crisis. 

Qatar has described the impact of the blockage by Tehran as being “unbearable.” They do not believe that the world economy can withstand the continuing actions by Iran without serious consequences.

Although the US wants to bring down the Iranian economy, it has been able to survive under the existing circumstances. Consequently, the tactics utilized by the White House have backfired onto the working and impoverished people of the US.

Key allies of the US in West Asia have suffered immensely due to the war. Military bases have been severely damaged in the Persian Gulf Arab monarchies as well as in Jordan. Recently, US soldiers have posted photographs of the physical damage done to Pentagon outposts and equipment.

In a report published by Press TV, it said of the economic situation inside the country:

“President Masoud Pezeshkian has highlighted the strategic importance of the Strait of Hormuz to regional and global security, saying Iran’s strong presence across maritime areas prevented the country’s vital economic lifelines from being disrupted. In a message marking World Maritime Day on Wednesday, Pezeshkian described the sea as more than a body of water for Iran, calling it a divine blessing and an integral part of the country’s history, identity, and way of life, as well as a major source of opportunities for its present and future.” (https://www.presstv.co.uk/Detail/2026/09/30/777323/Pezeshkian--Iran%E2%80%99s-strong-maritime-presence-Strait-Hormuz-kept-vital-national-lifelines-moving)

The reality of the economic situation in the US has placed the Trump administration in a precarious place. Opinion polls have shown that the majority of people are opposed to the war against Iran.

In addition, the majority of voters in the US on the eve of the midterm elections are showing strong disapproval of the way the administration is handling the national economy which has been marred by a failed tariffs policy and the large-scale transferal of wealth from working people to the ruling class.

Inevitably economic conditions will worsen by the January 2027 when the legislative measures passed by the Republican-dominated House of Representatives and Senate go into force. The cost of healthcare benefits will increase, enhancing the already existing household debt in the US. (https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personal-finance/healthcare/2026/09/12/health-benefit-cuts-disney-starbucks-2027/91671778007/)

Yemeni Resistance Playing a Major Role in Solidarity with Iran

The Ansur Allah Yemeni resistance movement has been firm in opposing the Israeli and US states along with their allies throughout the West Asia region. For more than a decade, Washington and its surrogates have sought to defeat the Ansur Allah movement.

Between 2015 and 2021, the Yemeni resistance forces waged an armed struggle against US and Saudi-backed interests inside the country. Weekly demonstrations have brought hundreds of thousands of people into the streets of the capital of Saana. Offensive actions by the Yemen resistance have resulted in the seizure of more territory on the coastline depriving Riyadh and the US of access to this strategic area.

In a report issued by graincentral.com, it emphasized that:

“As the war between the United States and Iran enters its eighth month, and the Strait of Hormuz remains closed, another global trade chokepoint is re-emerging. With the Iran-backed Houthi rebels now controlling almost all of Yemen’s Red Sea coastline, the conflict has an unimpeded extension into the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, disrupting trade, energy flows and threatening freedom of navigation in the crucial international seaway…. The economic consequences are both regional and global, raising fears of even higher oil prices, increased shipping costs, higher food costs and widespread disruption to international trade at a time when inflation is already elevated across much of the world.” (https://www.graincentral.com/markets/houthi-control-of-bab-el-mandeb-strait-poses-global-trade-threat/)

Therefore, Trump’s claims that he will end the regional war in West Asia after the midterms seems disingenuous. US soldiers are being killed and wounded in a war that was designed for purely imperialist aims and objectives.

Reports of a series of suicides among Pentagon soldiers highlight the failure of the war drive in West Asia. The only solution to the impasse is for Washington to withdraw its forces from the Persian Gulf and the entire geopolitical region.

US Announces Withdrawal of Remaining Troops from Iraq

The Pentagon has announced the withdrawal of its remaining troops in Iraq. This represents yet another failure in the imperialist project in West Asia.

Initially, in 1990-1991, there was a massive military build-up by the Pentagon and its allies after the usurpation of Kuwait by the former Iraqi government led by Saddam Hussein. Some twelve years later in 2003, the US invaded and occupied Iraq under the false premise of seizing and destroying “weapons of mass destruction” possessed by Iraq.

Iraq was never fully subdued due to the resistance of the people along with the launching of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). The ISIS group merely provided a rationale for the continuing presence of Pentagon troops in the region. 

However, in recent years, the governments of Iraq and Iran have grown closer. Iran played a critical role in the defeat of ISIS along with volunteers from the Hezbollah resistance movement based in southern Lebanon. 

Press TV published an article on the situation in Iraq noting that:

“The formal drawdown of US occupation forces from Iraq on Wednesday, September 30, 2026, marks the end of a disastrous 23-year military project that began with a lie, was sustained by violence, and concluded in a defeat as profound as the one America suffered in Afghanistan.

What the US war machine presented as a mission to liberate Iraq from the Ba’athist dictatorship more than two decades ago and eliminate the so-called ‘weapons of mass destruction’ became a case study in imperial overreach, leaving behind a shattered country, millions dead, and a region destabilized for generations. The US-led coalition military presence in the Arab country started in early 2003, before they were forced to leave in 2011. However, three years later, in 2014, they returned as part of the so-called international campaign against the Daesh terrorist group.” (https://www.presstv.co.uk/Detail/2026/09/30/777325/iraq-long-dark-night-ends-23-years-us-lies-occupation-abuse-end-humiliating-withdrawal)

These developments will undoubtedly add to the discontent over foreign policy in the US among the electorate. According to the figures supplied by the Pentagon, more than 4,500 troops died on the battlefield in Iraq while nearly 32,000 were wounded. 

These numbers do not tell the complete story of the casualties since the occupation of Iraq. Many soldiers suffered mental breakdowns making them incapable of functioning within society over the last two decades. There have been tens of thousands more veterans who were rendered permanently disabled physically and mentally. 

The lessons of the imperialist wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Iran have proven that the long-term impact on the people of the US has been devastating. Until there is a fundamental shift in domestic and foreign policy, these military interventions will continue to the detriment of working and oppressed peoples of the US and indeed the world.