Senator Dave McCormick of Pennsylvania told Breitbart editor Alex Marlow at the Republican Jewish Coalition National Leadership Summit on August 31 that President Trump is pairing military action with economic pressure to force Iran’s rulers to abandon nuclear weapons rather than destroy the country outright.

McCormick, a Gulf War veteran, said the current air campaign has wrecked far more aircraft, factories, and missile launchers than that earlier conflict and has sharply cut Iran’s military strength without wiping it out. He cited 70 percent inflation this year, a 40 percent drop in the currency, a 6 percent economic contraction, unemployment above 10 percent, and long lines for fuel and bread as signs of mounting strain on the leadership.

Iran’s economy relies on oil for 90 percent of its activity, so a blockade is central, and McCormick said the next step will be secondary sanctions on nations that still trade with Tehran. He added that Trump wants a prosperous Iran and sees ordinary Iranians as separate from the leaders who have held power for 47 years.