Published on 5/21/2026
Today, Thursday, US President Donald Trump republished an opinion article in the New York Post entitled “How to crush Iran in 3 steps.”
The author of the article calls for adopting a firm strategy towards Iran based on three parallel paths, starting with maintaining the blockade and the accompanying economic war to destabilize the regime’s grip on the country.
The second path is to reshape the world according to the model of American hegemony in the field of energy to mitigate the effects of prices in the long term, while at the same time undermining China’s global ambitions to defeat the United States.
Third: Issuing orders to the American army to open the Strait of Hormuz to restore freedom of navigation according to American conditions, not Tehran’s conditions.
Washington Tools
The author of the article, Richard Goldberg, a senior advisor at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, believes that the Iranian regime is ruled by a committee that is trying to deceive the world with “propaganda” and artificial intelligence.
He points out that Iran is facing an American naval blockade that has led to the collapse of the economy and currency, the freezing of accounts and digital wallets, the cessation of oil and mineral exports, and the approaching crisis of a gasoline shortage and the collapse of the state, despite the Revolutionary Guard’s attempts to block the Internet to control information.
Goldberg adds that Trump has the upper hand, and the best path for him includes three parallel lines: continuing the blockade and economic war, imposing America’s hegemony in the energy field to weaken China’s ambition, and launching a military mission for freedom of navigation.
The article stated that this strategy relies on two main operations. The first is “Operation Economic Fury,” which is led by the Treasury Department, an all-out war in which American agencies and the intelligence community participate to freeze the regime’s funds and pursue ways to evade sanctions internationally.
The second is “Operation Epic Passage,” or what is known as “Siege Plus,” which is a proposed naval and air mission to protect tankers in the Strait of Hormuz and restore freedom of navigation on Washington’s terms, to reduce prices and prevent Tehran from holding the global economy hostage.
Washington’s “end game” plan with Iran
On the domestic energy front, the author says every possible way to facilitate, expand and modernize refineries in the United States should be accelerated.
Internationally, every new oil project that an American company ever wants to pursue must receive the full support of the administration, according to the article.
In the Gulf, the United States should partner with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to form a new Trans-Aram onshore pipeline consortium, to undermine Tehran’s long-term threat to the Strait of Hormuz by sending oil, gas, and petrochemicals overland in multiple directions to Europe.
Ultimately, Goldberg says, if the US Navy and Air Force and its allies can defend a narrow corridor for even limited tanker flow out of the Gulf, while still maintaining Operation Economic Fury, it will be “endgame.”
