The Sanctions Age
The Sanctions Age is a podcast that explores how sanctions are changing the world. Twenty years ago, the U.S. Department of Treasury had imposed sanctions on fewer than 1,000 companies and individuals. Today, more than 10,000 entities have been targeted. Leaders around the world are imposing sanctions in response to wars, nuclear proliferation, terrorism, human rights violations, and technological competition. The podcast invites economists, historians, lawyers, policymakers, and journalists to explain their use and significance.
Episodes
Why the U.S. and Iran are Struggling to Reach a Deal
Ali Vaez on the fraught negotiations between Washington and Tehran. In late February, the United States and Israel launched a war on Iran—a war that killed the country’s supreme leader, closed the Strait of Hormuz, pushed the global economy to the brink, and brought the Middle East closer to all-out conflagration than at any point in a generation. Now, amid a ceasefire that has held without ever b
Cuba's Unprecedented Crisis
María José Espinosa on the unprecedented crisis in Cuba.For more than sixty years, the United States has waged an economic war against Cuba. The sanctions first imposed in 1960 were designed, in the words of a secret State Department memorandum, to bring about "hunger, desperation and overthrow of government." Six decades later, the sanctions pressure has reached unprecedented levels. In
How to Fight an Economic War
Edward Fishman on how to fight an economic war.It has been an extraordinary year in American economic statecraft and economic warfare. When today’s guest last appeared on the show, it was April 2025. We spoke just days after Trump’s so-called “Liberation Day” tariffs had thrown global markets into chaos. At the time, much of the conversation about economic warfare was speculation about what Trump
Studying Sanctions Through a Feminist Lens
Lisa Neal on understanding sanctions as a form of structural violence.Debates about sanctions tend to follow a familiar script. Who is being targeted? Will the measures change behavior? What are the economic costs to the sender country? These are legitimate questions. But they have a common blind spot: they describe sanctions from the outside, in the language of strategy and pressure, and rarely a
Germany’s Vulnerability in the Geoeconomic 'Zeitenwende'
Sascha Lohmann on the impact of tariffs and sanctions on the German economy.Since the end of the Second World War, the world economy has operated on a set of shared assumptions: trade is mutually beneficial, interdependence engenders stability, and politics and economics are best kept separate. Germany built one of the strongest economies in the world on the basis of these assumptions. But they ma
What Makes Sanctions Termination So Difficult
Julia Grauvogel and Hana Attia on the challenges of sanctions termination.When sanctions make the news it is usually because new measures are being imposed on a country, company, or individual. But sometimes, the news is that sanctions are being lifted. As discussed in the first episode of this season, the Trump administration has offered Venezuela sanctions relief as part of the arrangement that
Syria's Complicated Path to Economic Recovery
Vittorio Maresca di Serracapriola on sanctions relief in Syria.It has been over a year since Syrian dictator Bashar Al Assad fled to Moscow and a new government took power in Damascus. Assad’s ouster triggered one of the most rapid reversals of a sanctions regime in recent history. The European Union and the United States essentially raced to be the first to lift sanctions on Syria and most restri
The Decades-Long Effort to Make Sanctions 'Smart'
Alistair Millar on the challenges of sanctions reform.A quarter century ago, the United States had sanctioned fewer than 1000 companies, organizations, individuals, and vessels around the world. Today, that total is nearly 17,000. One reason why these measures are being used so expansively is the widespread perception that sanctions are “smart,” designed to be maximally effective while causing min
How Putin Benefits from the Iran War
Alexandra Prokopenko on recent developments in the Russian economy.February marked the fourth anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It also marked the beginning of a new war. U.S. and Israel airstrikes on Iran have thrust the Persian Gulf into a devastating conflict with profound impacts for the global economy. Unprecedented strikes on energy infrastructure and disruptions in maritime tr
Why Trump Now Controls Venezuela's Future
Francisco Rodríguez on the ouster of Nicolás Maduro.On January 3 of this year, American special forces captured Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and extricated him to the United States. But the operation did not oust the Venezuelan regime. Instead, in the subsequent days, the Trump administration announced its intention to work with Maduro’s deputy, Delcy Rodriguez. President Trump took effecti
Huawei's Thirty-Year Battle With U.S. Sanctions
Eva Dou on the rise of Chinese technology giant Huawei. Few companies better embody the promise and peril of China’s rise than Huawei. For nearly three decades, Huawei has steadily climbed towards the peak of the global telecommunications industry—first as a supplier of telecom infrastructure, then as a maker of smartphones, and more recently as a driving force behind Chinese ambitions in 5G, semi
Why Sanctions on Iran 'Snapped Back'
Esfandyar Batmanghelidj on the "snapback" of sanctions in Iran. Last week, the host of The Sanctions Age, Esfandyar Batmanghelidj, was interviewed by Derek Davison for an episode of American Prestige, a podcast that takes a comprehensive look at American foreign policy and international affairs.Derek and Esfandyar discussed the death of the Iran nuclear deal, which died last week after t
Why Oil Sanctions No Longer Work
Gregory Brew on why oil sanctions no longer work. Few sanctions have been used as aggressively as oil sanctions. These measures are meant to hit oil producing “rogue states” where it hurts, starving governments of vital revenues and forcing changes in policy. But look around the world today and you will see a growing list of countries defying oil sanctions. Iran is still pumping. Russia is still e
Russia’s Commitment to Austerity Under Sanctions
Nicholas Trickett on how Russia approaches the fiscal pressure of sanctions. Russia is one of the world’s largest economies. It’s a top energy exporter and a major supplier of wheat, fertilizers, wood, and metals. Since the invasion of Ukraine, Western governments have tried to squeeze Russia’s revenues through unprecedented sanctions, price caps, and export controls. How Russia’s economy responds
How Sanctions Hit a Small Mining Town
Jeff Stein on the impact of sanctions in a small Guatemalan town. The small Guatemalan town of El Estor was once a bustling mining hub, home to two major nickel mines that provided thousands of jobs and sustained the local government. In 2022, U.S. sanctions shuttered those mines almost overnight, triggering massive job losses, starving the town of public revenues, and collapsing small businesses.
The Shadow of Sanctions in Syria
Karam Shaar on the legacy of sanctions in Syria. On December 8, 2024, Bashar Al-Assad fled Syria, bringing an end to the 13-year civil war that had devastated the country. Syrians who had endured years of conflict and deprivation, took to the streets in celebration. They were suddenly able to imagine a new future for their country. Assad’s fall caught the international community by surprise, and p
How to Get Off the Sanctions List
Erich Ferrari on the inner workings of OFAC. There is a powerful office in the Treasury Department called the Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC. You could argue that the officials in OFAC are the most powerful government functionaries in the world. They are the functionaries who sanction companies, organizations, and individuals, by adding these entities to a list called the Specially Desi
Reporting from Sanctioned Countries
Golnar Motevalli on her experiences reporting from sanctioned Iran. Covering sanctions is complicated. Editors commissioning reports from countries like Iran, Russia, and Venezuela mainly want stories that focus on security or political issues, but on the ground, economic disruptions are what everyone is talking about. Foreign correspondents based in sanctioned countries are not just reporting on
How Sanctions are Spurring Chinese Innovation
Kyle Chan on Chinese innovation in the face of sanctions and export controls. Over the past several years, the United States has escalated its use of sanctions and export controls in the context of growing strategic competition with China. A central goal has been to contain China’s rise in high-tech industries—especially semiconductors, artificial intelligence, and clean energy—by cutting off acce
How Sanctions Kill
Francisco Rodríguez on the global death toll of sanctions. In the 1990s, UN sanctions imposed on Iraq led to a humanitarian crisis, with reports of a rapid increase in excess mortality, especially among children. In the early 2000s, policymakers responded to this crisis by vowing to use “smart sanctions” in the future, measures that would target elites while sparing civilians, thereby limiting the
Trump's Approach to Economic Statecraft
Edward Fishman on Trump's approach to economic statecraft. The world is still reeling from Trump’s announcement of major retaliatory tariffs targeting all of America’s trading partners, which came back in April. First, Trump announced a basic 10% tariff on imports from all countries. Then, higher tariffs were applied to 60 countries. Soon after, Trump announced he would pause the implementati
The Humanitarian Consequences of Sanctions
Erica Moret on the humanitarian harms of sanctions.In just about every country that has been targeted by a major sanctions program—including Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Venezuela, to name a few—we can observe significant humanitarian consequences. Sanctions contribute to shortages of essential goods, hinder access to healthcare, and exacerbate poverty and social instability. Understanding the hum
How American Regulators Captured Global Banks
Stephen Fallon on how American regulators captured global banks. US authorities have taken advantage of the unique position of the dollar in the global economy to exercise significant control over the global financial system. When the U.S. introduces new financial regulations or sanctions regimes, global banks take notice, and tend to modify their behaviors to conform with American guidance.Stephe
Intensifying Economic Competition Between the U.S. and China
Gerard DiPippo on the intensifying economic competition between the United States and China. When the White House recently announced it would increase tariffs on a range of Chinese goods, it used striking language to explain why the measures were necessary. The White House statement claimed that “China’s unfair trade practices concerning technology transfer, intellectual property, and innovation a
How Global CEOs Navigate the Sanctions Landscape
Henry Smith on how global CEOs are navigating the sanctions landscape. In recent decades, multinational companies have pursued market opportunities around the world, creating complex supply chains and financial structures in the process. But what was once a world of expanding opportunity is increasingly a world of encroaching risks. With sanctions and export controls imposed on a growing list of
The Challenges of Peacebuilding After Sanctions
Delaney Simon on the challenges of peacebuilding in the wake of sanctions. Sanctions are not meant to last forever. When diplomatic negotiations bring a dispute or conflict to an end, it may be time to lift sanctions imposed in response to that conflict. Unfortunately, sanctions can be difficult to lift, and they have lingering effects that can make it harder to build a durable peace after conflic
Economic War and Economic Peace
Maximilian Hess and Nicholas Mulder on economic war and economic peace. Maximilian Hess and Nicholas Mulder have spent a lot of time thinking about economic weapons and economic war, especially in the context of Ukraine.Their writings have graced the pages of the New York Times, the Financial Times, Foreign Affairs, and Foreign Policy. If there are trenches in economic wars, then Max and Nick two
How Firms Adapt to Sanctions
Javad Shamsi on how firms adapt to sanctions. The U.S. sanctions on Iran target sectors across the country’s economy, including the energy, manufacturing, and banking sectors. In addition, hundreds of Iranian companies have been designated, meaning they have been singled out with targeted sanctions. Despite this expansive sanctions regime, very few large enterprises in Iran have gone out of busine
How States Evade and Undermine Sanctions
Daniel McDowell and Maria Shagina on how states evade and undermine sanctions. The stakes around sanctions circumvention have never been higher. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has made sanctions evasion a matter of life or death. Russia continues to use export revenues to fund its war economy, and, despite trade restrictions, Russian factories continue to churn out weapons using imported parts an
Weaponizing Interdependence in a Globalized World
Henry Farrell and Abraham Newman on weaponizing Interdependence in a globalized world. In 2019, Henry Farrell and Abraham Newman published a paper titled “Weaponized Interdependence,” which quickly became one of the most widely cited papers about economic coercion. The paper spurred scholars and policymakers to recognise how the networks that underpin the globalised economy can be exploited by po
How the Strong Dollar Became the Weaponized Dollar
Saleha Mohsin on how the strong dollar became the weaponized dollar. Over the last few decades, the Department of Treasury has transformed from an institution that managed the dollar, government budgets, and issued bonds into an institution playing a critical role in US national security. At the heart of this transformation was cast of characters—legislators and bureaucrats—who realised the immens
