In an opinion piece for Fox News, former US Ambassador Gordon Sondland argues that President Donald Trump is pursuing a new Iran policy under which allied nations must choose between trading with Tehran and maintaining business ties with the United States. He praises the approach, dubbed "Economic D-Day," as a departure from previous sanctions regimes that mainly targeted Iranian officials with little real exposure to American markets, arguing instead that it takes aim at the foreign governments, banks and companies that have long sustained Iran's economy while facing few consequences.

Sondland writes that the strategy focuses on penalising foreign countries, banks, refiners, shipping firms and middlemen that continue doing business with Iran, rather than simply sanctioning Iranian officials directly. He frames this as ending a decades-long "free ride" enjoyed by US allies who traded with Iran without facing meaningful pressure from Washington, asserting that the new measures are designed to cut off financial lifelines supporting Iran's regional proxy network.