As feared, the United States announced it will not extend temporary waivers given to countries that purchase Iranian oil. Now, no country can buy petroleum products from Iran without risking the imposition of sanctions against it. Eight countries were given waivers, Japan among them. Anticipating the revocation, Japanese refiners halted purchases from Iran earlier this year; finding other suppliers has not been difficult and Japanese energy prices remain stable.

The wisdom of the U.S. strategy is questionable. Washington has withdrawn from a multilateral agreement on Iran's nuclear program that Tehran was honoring. The U.S. administration's ultimate objective is unclear and may not even be legal. Its means are generating more friction with allies than changes in Tehran's behavior.

U.S. President Donald Trump called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JPCOA), the multilateral agreement signed by his predecessor, Barack Obama, to cap Iran's nuclear program, "a horrible one-sided deal that should never, ever have been made." He vowed to withdraw from it — which he did — and impose "the highest level of economic sanctions" on Iran. To ensure that those measures hurt Tehran, he threatened secondary sanctions against countries that did business with Iran.