How much could Trump's 'economic D-Day' hurt Iran?

Michael Parker, an eight-year veteran of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and expert on economic sanctions, said the new strategy will likely represent an effort to "expand the economic blast radius" of sanctions by targeting third countries that still deal with Iran, but have economies that depend on the US dollar."Thus far, the US has largely used the threat of these secondary sanctions against foreign financial institutions to encourage compliance with sanctions policy," he said."But this is a lever that is sort of unexplored insofar as targeting anything touching the US dollar that is also touching Iran," Parker added.As an example, Parker pointed to US financial institutions that help Iran evade sanctions, or directs money towards Iranian coffers.How Iran would respond to these moves remains unclear, but sanctions experts say that Iran has so far proved adept at using irregular channels to circumvent sanctions - such as "shadow" vessels transporting oil or new commercial fronts unlisted by US sanctions."You keep seeing new names popping up, because Iran is adapting really quickly," said Mohammed Hammouda, an export control and sanctions manager at the London Stock Exchange. "Whatever sanctions one does, they find a new road [around it]."These Iranian counter-moves, he added, often leave those charged with enforcing compliance playing a game of catch-up."Sanctions are all on paper, but the hard work is behind the scenes," Hammouda added. "There are teams worldwide trying to impose sanctions and identify those parties involved, which is why Iran has to try to adapt."