U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the multinational deal that capped Iran's nuclear program, is wrong for many reasons: The agreement was working, other signatories remain committed to it and the move casts the United States as a country that disregards international commitments. Another flaw is becoming evident and it has the potential to do the greatest damage to U.S. power and prestige: The imposition of sanctions on companies that continue to do business with Iran is invigorating efforts to work around Washington's grip on the international financial system. Nothing could undercut the U.S. more than creating the means to do business without using the dollar or American financial institutions.

Since Trump pulled out of the JCPOA in May, the U.S. has tightened the screws on the Iranian economy to force it to the negotiating table and submit to a tougher agreement. As one American official explained, the U.S. is "aggressively enforcing these provisions to lock up Iran's assets overseas and deny the Iranian regime access to its hard currency." Among other things, the administration wants to reduce Iran's oil exports to zero.

The U.S. does little business with Iran, however. If U.S. sanctions are to bite, then they must be enforced against non-U.S. companies. Since many of those companies do business with the U.S. as well, Washington's threat to cut access to the U.S. market has teeth. As a result, dozens of non-U.S. companies have closed shop in Iran.