🇺🇸🇮🇷 Trump's pressure strategy against Iran may be reaching its breaking point, because Tehran's answer to more pressure is more war

Treasury Sec. Scott Bessent says Washington is preparing to move from “Epic Fury” to “Economic Fury,” with unprecedented measures designed to isolate Iran and squeeze its economy even harder.

There's just one problem.

Tehran is signalling that the more Washington turns up the financial pressure, the more Iran is prepared to turn up the military pressure.

An adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader has now warned that if Iran's demands aren't met, Tehran could shift from a defensive posture to an offensive one.

Meanwhile, CENTCOM commander Brad Cooper is reportedly becoming increasingly pessimistic that renewed fighting can be avoided.

So while Washington publicly talks about pressure creating the conditions for diplomacy, the military appears to be preparing for the possibility that it produces exactly the opposite.

And events on the ground are already moving in that direction.

Two UAE-owned tankers were attacked by drones while transiting the Strait of Hormuz, with the UAE blaming Iran.

The Houthis are escalating around Yemen and Saudi Arabia.

And during our discussion, reports emerged of another attack targeting Saudi Aramco infrastructure.

But America may be preparing for another round of fighting without having solved one of the biggest problems exposed by the last one: Weapons production.

The U.S is finally fielding its Dark Eagle hypersonic missile, but the production rate is roughly one missile per month, with ambitions to increase that to two.

And increasingly, America's adversaries appear to understand that the economics of warfare matter just as much as the weapons themselves.

Fire cheaper weapons, force your enemy to burn expensive interceptors, drain their magazines, then use the weapons you've been saving.

Trump's strategy rests on the assumption that enough pain eventually forces Tehran back to the negotiating table.

Iran is betting on something very different: That enough pain forces America to decide this war simply isn't worth the price.

And if neither side backs down, “Economic Fury” may not be the alternative to another war; it may be the trigger for it.@WeTheBrandon