August 14, 2026
Yashraj Sharma and Caolán Magee
“Consumer sentiment fell about 8 percent this August, ending two consecutive months of improvement,” University of Michigan survey director Joanne Hsu told the Reuters news agency.
Preliminary data reviewed by Reuters showed consumer sentiment at 51.0 points, down from 55.2 and well below market expectations.
Before the US-Israeli war on Iran, inflation was already above the US Federal Reserve’s long-term two-percent target and US households are being hit harder after being battered for years by higher prices.
Nine vessels passed through the strait on Thursday, up from five on Wednesday but below the average of 12 for August.
Some ships may pass through undetected with their transponders off, but the figures are nowhere near the more than 130 ships that traversed the Strait of Hormuz daily before the US-Israeli war on Iran in February.
“Alongside the threat to energy infrastructure in the region, Iran’s ability to restrict shipping through the strait is its main source of leverage in negotiations,” Torbjorn Solvedt, principal Middle East analyst with risk intelligence company Verisk Maplecroft, told the Reuters news agency.
“If there was a way out, then they would have done that already, and they would never have embarked on military action. Iran has been under four decades of tough economic pressures and sanctions,” Khoshcheshm said.
He argued that the US has exhausted methods of placing sanctions on multiple layers of Iran’s economy and sanctions are becoming ineffective.
“They have imposed various types of laws, congressional laws and it’s seven or eight years since they have failed to find out a new law against Iran. All economic sectors are placed under sanctions, exports of crude, petrochemicals, gas, foreign currency, SWIFT, insurance, shipping, whatever, you name it,” Khoshcheshm said.
“Companies and people are placed under sanctions in each sector. And they have placed thousands of planes, ships, companies and people on the sanctions list repeatedly, for various excuses such as involvement in Iran’s nuclear programme, or ballistic missile programmes, human rights and so on. That’s why since Obama left office, they have failed to impose real pressure,” he explained.
The problem is that the most important weapon of choice for Iran is keeping the strait shut because it levies a lot of pressure on the United States economy as US Vice President JD Vance said.
Now the primary goal of United States is lowering that pressure by keeping crude prices low.
In an interview with US media, Vance said that keeping energy prices stable for Americans was Washington’s first goal in the Iran conflict.
Pfeifle argued that Washington has been working through “crisis to crisis that Iran has put on top of it”. “It has not focused on a real long-term strategy,” he added.
Pfeifle, who served under former President George W Bush called for a coordinated “pressure cell internally in the White House that puts the Iranians on notice”, saying Tehran “has the advantage of time”. “The Americans need to take it away,” he noted.
He urged an “extreme blockade of finances and sanctions” targeting Chinese funding, cryptocurrency, shadow companies and “shadow fleets”, implemented “not at the speed of press releases, but at the speed of ships”.
Yashraj Sharma and Caolán Magee
- US Vice President JD Vance has outlined Washington’s key objectives in the Iran conflict as keeping energy prices stable for Americans, preventing Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons and securing a stronger US position.
- US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth says that the US can sustain its blockade against Iran “indefinitely”.
- Iran’s military disputes US assertions that maritime traffic is flowing normally through the Strait of Hormuz, maintaining that no vessel passes without its authorisation.
- US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says the United States will apply economic measures against Iran that have “never been seen” before in efforts to isolate Tehran.
US consumer
sentiment falls as Iran war fuels inflation fears
New data show that US consumer
sentiment fell sharply in August, ending months of recent gains as prolonged
inflation and uncertainty over the US war against Iran hit the economy.“Consumer sentiment fell about 8 percent this August, ending two consecutive months of improvement,” University of Michigan survey director Joanne Hsu told the Reuters news agency.
Preliminary data reviewed by Reuters showed consumer sentiment at 51.0 points, down from 55.2 and well below market expectations.
Before the US-Israeli war on Iran, inflation was already above the US Federal Reserve’s long-term two-percent target and US households are being hit harder after being battered for years by higher prices.
Transit through
Strait of Hormuz comes at a standstill, data shows
Two vessels passed through the
narrow waterway
on Friday, according to analysis from ship tracking firm Kpler: a grain ship
entering Iranian waters and an empty dry bulk ship going in the other
direction.Nine vessels passed through the strait on Thursday, up from five on Wednesday but below the average of 12 for August.
Some ships may pass through undetected with their transponders off, but the figures are nowhere near the more than 130 ships that traversed the Strait of Hormuz daily before the US-Israeli war on Iran in February.
“Alongside the threat to energy infrastructure in the region, Iran’s ability to restrict shipping through the strait is its main source of leverage in negotiations,” Torbjorn Solvedt, principal Middle East analyst with risk intelligence company Verisk Maplecroft, told the Reuters news agency.
More US
sanctions won’t push Iran to change course on Hormuz: Expert
Mostafa Khoshcheshm, a professor
at the University of Applied Science and Technology, says more US sanctions on
Iran will not push Tehran to change course in the Strait of Hormuz.“If there was a way out, then they would have done that already, and they would never have embarked on military action. Iran has been under four decades of tough economic pressures and sanctions,” Khoshcheshm said.
He argued that the US has exhausted methods of placing sanctions on multiple layers of Iran’s economy and sanctions are becoming ineffective.
“They have imposed various types of laws, congressional laws and it’s seven or eight years since they have failed to find out a new law against Iran. All economic sectors are placed under sanctions, exports of crude, petrochemicals, gas, foreign currency, SWIFT, insurance, shipping, whatever, you name it,” Khoshcheshm said.
“Companies and people are placed under sanctions in each sector. And they have placed thousands of planes, ships, companies and people on the sanctions list repeatedly, for various excuses such as involvement in Iran’s nuclear programme, or ballistic missile programmes, human rights and so on. That’s why since Obama left office, they have failed to impose real pressure,” he explained.
The problem is that the most important weapon of choice for Iran is keeping the strait shut because it levies a lot of pressure on the United States economy as US Vice President JD Vance said.
Now the primary goal of United States is lowering that pressure by keeping crude prices low.
US ‘needs real
long-term strategy’ to pressure Iran: Ex-White House official
Former White House Deputy
National Security Adviser Mark Pfeifle has questioned Washington’s strategy in
the ongoing confrontation with Iran, responding to comments by US Vice
President JD Vance that the administration is on track to accomplish its goals
in the conflict.In an interview with US media, Vance said that keeping energy prices stable for Americans was Washington’s first goal in the Iran conflict.
Pfeifle argued that Washington has been working through “crisis to crisis that Iran has put on top of it”. “It has not focused on a real long-term strategy,” he added.
Pfeifle, who served under former President George W Bush called for a coordinated “pressure cell internally in the White House that puts the Iranians on notice”, saying Tehran “has the advantage of time”. “The Americans need to take it away,” he noted.
He urged an “extreme blockade of finances and sanctions” targeting Chinese funding, cryptocurrency, shadow companies and “shadow fleets”, implemented “not at the speed of press releases, but at the speed of ships”.
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