# Post ts_117156925333799291

- Post ID: `ts_117156925333799291`
- Platform: Truth Social
- Posted: 2026-08-25T15:46:50.881Z (UTC)
- Deleted: no
- Repost: no
- Canonical URL: https://trump.fm/post/ts_117156925333799291
- Analysis page: https://trump.fm/post/ts_117156925333799291/analysis

## Post text

_No text of its own. The post is its media, below._

## What the media says

**Image 1** (screenshot), described automatically; these are a machine's words about the picture, not the poster's:

> A scanned New York Post newspaper page (dated Tuesday, August 25, 2026) with the headline "THE BATTLE FOR IRAN / $QUEEZING" across the top. The page has three columns: a left story "Money woes a 'rial' crusher" about Iran's currency collapse, a center story with a map graphic of the Persian Gulf/UAE/Iran region showing a red arrow pointing into Iran, headlined "That cut really hurts / UAE big Iran partner," and a right story "US will sanction nations that aid Tehran" by Josh Christenson and Ryan King about Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's "Operation Economic Outcast" campaign. A faint repeating watermark reading "COMMERCIAL DISTRIBUTION IS ..." overlays the page.

Text in the image: "4 nypost.com New York Post, Tuesday, August 25, 2026 THE BATTLE FOR IRAN $QUEEZING Money woes a 'rial' crusher Iran's currency plummeted to new lows Monday, sending citizens rushing to exchange lines to save their cash. The rial dropped to 2.02 million to $1 when the currency markets opened, about half of what it was worth at the start of the year. The continued plunge during nearly six months of war has led Iranians to sprint for the exchange markets in hopes of getting US bills. "There is no hope for a deal or peace," Sadegh Mahmoudi, 73, said as he waited at an exchange line in Tehran. The rial has been in a free fall since November due to years of sanctions and persistently high inflation, factors that have only gotten worse during the war. While Iran's official Central Bank rate stands at 1.5 million rial to the dollar, the market rate is what Iranians pay. "President Trump decimated Iran's economy to a point where the rial has never been weaker and inflation has rarely been higher," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent wrote Sunday in an opinion piece in the Financial Times. "The regime's final refuge now lies in the self-deception of fearful nations that still believe accommodating aggression can secure a durable peace." Bessent warned that the additional financial penalties announced Monday would effectively "collapse the regime," with Trump echoing the same threat on social media. "IRAN IS COMPLETELY COLLAPSING!!!" the president wrote on Truth Social. Tehran officials have threatened retaliation. "Any escalation of this situation will undoubtedly bring about consequences," a Foreign Ministry spokesperson told reporters on Monday. Ronny Reyes, With Wires ■ Dubai is Iran's biggest supplier of goods by far ■ One-third of Iran's imports come from the UAE, most flowing through Dubai ■ Nearly 15% of Iran's non-oil exports go to the UAE, sending $6.5B to the regime in the last 10 months ■ 70% of Iran's fuel oil exports went to UAE By RONNY REYES [Map showing IRAN, QATAR, Dubai (star), UAE, SAUDI ARABIA, OMAN, Persian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz, Gulf of Oman, with a red arrow pointing from the Gulf region into Iran] That cut really hurts UAE big Iran partner A US ally in the Middle East has finally cut off Iran — and it could be one of the biggest threats to the regime yet. The United Arab Emirates, which serves as Tehran's largest supplier of goods, suspended all trade with the Iran over the weekend — nixing $6 billion in cash that went to the regime from exports, as well as access to vital supplies from the outside world. Dubai — the UAE's thriving commercial hub — is by far Iran's largest supplier of goods. The Emirati government finally felt fed up with Iran following repeated missile attacks that triggered evacuations for the first time during the war. The move not only threatens the $21.3 billion trade relations between the two nations, it also leaves Iran without its primary way to collect US dollars, Mark Kimmitt, a retired US general and former assistant secretary of state, told The Post. "If the Emirates cease trade and blocks dollar flows, it could have a crippling effect on the Iranian economy," Kimmitt said. Dubai essentially served as Iran's window to the world after years of being slapped by Western sanctions, with traders buying and re-exporting consumer goods, food and industrial equipment to Iran. The two nations strengthened their economic cooperation in 2024, with the UAE surpassing China as Iran's most vital trading partner. Iran imported about $14.8 billion worth of goods from the UAE during the first 10 months of the 2025 fiscal year, accounting for 30% of its total imports, according to the two countries' trade data. Meanwhile, Iran exported around $6.5 billion worth of goods to the UAE during the same fiscal period, nearly 15% of its non-oil exports. Most notably, Iran also depended on the UAE for 70% of its fuel oil exports, making the UAE its largest market for the product. Refined oil also came back in the opposite direction from Dubai — with gasoline and diesel imports from the UAE helping to offset Iran's supply deficit. The blow leaves Iran with fewer means to make money and import goods as its economy continues to plummet under the strain of US sanctions. US will sanction nations that aid Tehran By JOSH CHRISTENSON and RYAN KING WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced Monday the start of the Operation Economic Outcast campaign against Iran to "tighten the noose" around its regime, and warned countries against doing business with Tehran. The Trump administration aims to choke off revenue streams to the Iran by pressuring countries to stop making oil, energy and business deals with Tehran. "The clock just started ticking," he warned at a news conference, while declining to give a precise timeline before secondary sanctions against uncooperating countries would take effect. Prez on the horn Bessent revealed that the President Trump has been burning the phone lines to other capitals with demands, and stressed that America "does not have infinite patience" with countries to comply. "The president is making phone calls to world leaders with specific requests to cease their interactions with the regime. We are already seeing results," Bessent said, without citing examples. He issued a final warning to world leaders "to make a decision between . . . America and Iran." Trump is preparing to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping next month. Beijing purchases"

**Image 2** (screenshot), described automatically; these are a machine's words about the picture, not the poster's:

> A New York Post newspaper page (page 5, dated "New York Post, Tuesday, August 25, 2026," nypost.com printed on the right margin) under the headline series "THE BATTLE FOR IRAN" / "POISON SNAKE." The main photo shows a gray-haired man in glasses and a navy suit speaking at a lectern bearing the seal of "THE DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY" (dated 1789), with an American flag behind him and two microphones in front. A smaller inset photo to the right shows stacks of foreign currency (banknotes and coins) spread out, apparently at a currency exchange. A caption box between the photos reads "TIGHTENING GRIP: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (left) announces Monday that the US will sanction countries that do business with Iran, sending Iranians scrambling to unload their currency at exchanges like this one in Tehran (above)." Below the images is a multi-column news article with a subheading "Evasion," discussing US sanctions on Iran, Treasury actions against banks (including Bank Melli), comments from Bessent and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, and references to a six-month-old war with Iran and sanctions targeting entities in China and Iran tied to nuclear/missile technology. The image has a translucent circular watermark/stamp overlaid across it reading something like "...DISTRIBUTION IS ST... COMMERCIAL... PROHIBITED" (partially obscured).

Text in the image: "THE BATTLE FOR IRAN POISON SNAKE TIGHTENING GRIP: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (left) announces Monday that the US will sanction countries that do business with Iran, sending Iranians scrambling to unload their currency at exchanges like this one in Tehran (above). THE DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY 1789 New York Post, Tuesday, August 25, 2026 nypost.com 5 roughly 90% of Iran's oil. "We want to make clear here today that no one is above the reach of US sanctions," Bessent said when asked if China would be subject to them. The United Arab Emirates already had announced last week that it was stopping all trade and financial transactions with Iran. Asked Monday told a Post reporter those actions were "likely causal, and I would expect that we would see a broad array of countries taking similar action as we continue our engagement." "The UAE has been a very good partner," he said. "You will see a wave of sanctions when you leave this meeting today and you should expect that cadence to continue." Trump had called UAE leader Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed hours before the announcement. "And I would expect that you will see a major announcement of a financial institution being sanctioned by the end of this week," added Bessent. Bessent is authorized, "in consultation with the Department of State," to target countries or entities dealing with Tehran through digital assets, technology, gold, commercial aviation and shipping. That authority took effect Monday under an executive order Trump signed in January 2020. Evasion Treasury officials noted that the Iranian regime has been making use of cryptocurrencies to evade sanctions, stabilizing its rial currency with gold to hedge against inflation, using commercial planes or ships to transport weapons or their components, fighters, cash and gold. As the 6-month-old war with Iran has dragged on, the Trump administration has teased an "Economic D-Day" approach. As an example, Bessent said that countries have been told to shutter Bank Melli branches within their borders, referring to the largest government-owned commercial bank in Iran. That would include the bank's branches in the UK, France, Germany Russia and other countries. Bessent said the operation will "foreclose every other option available," calling it a "zero leakage approach" that will ensure the regime will have "no minimal breathing space" to rebuild. "Iran now faces a very clear choice, with only two paths before them: complete global isolation and a subsistence economy, or a path back to normalcy with an opportunity to rejoin the global economy," he said. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth told reporters later Monday, "The only choice they have is to come to the table and actually talk about their nuclear program, which is what the president has demanded." In addition, the Treasury's Office of Foreign Asset Control on Monday sanctioned more than 60 entities that enable Iran to obtain illicit nuclear and missile technology, conduct malicious cyberattacks and increase the regime's oil revenue through shadow fleets and other entities. Some of the now-sanctioned entities, located in China and Iran, helped move "proliferation-sensitive equipment" and other "highly sensitive dual-use technology" to Tehran's Malek Ashtar University of Technology."

## Media

- image: https://static-assets-1.truthsocial.com/tmtg:prime-ts-assets/media_attachments/files/117/156/924/800/591/227/original/9d5689c9c903ca1e.jpg
- image: https://static-assets-1.truthsocial.com/tmtg:prime-ts-assets/media_attachments/files/117/156/924/800/802/174/original/7bb99cd6a368ee08.jpg

## Engagement

- Likes: 11,329
- Reposts: 2,398
- Replies: 300
- Views: unknown
- Metrics collected: 2026-09-01T15:01:47.149Z (UTC)

# Analysis

_Machine-generated by trump.fm on 2026-09-12T20:04:35.967Z (UTC): a model's reading of this post, not his words. Its psychological terms describe the language, not a clinical assessment of him._

## A newspaper page that quotes him back to himself

The post is two scans of page 4 of the August 25 New York Post, run under the banner "THE BATTLE FOR IRAN / $QUEEZING." There is no caption. Everything here is a reading of the choice to publish the page, because nothing on it is his own prose.

The page makes one argument three ways. The rial has fallen to "2.02 million to $1." The UAE, which the page calls Iran's biggest supplier, "has finally cut off Iran." Treasury will "sanction nations that aid Tehran" under "Operation Economic Outcast." Inside that argument sit two lines that do most of the work for him. One is Bessent's credit, "President Trump decimated Iran's economy to a point where the rial has never been weaker." The other is his own earlier post, quoted by the paper: "IRAN IS COMPLETELY COLLAPSING!!!" Posting the page makes a loop. He says something on Truth Social, a newspaper prints it, and he posts the newspaper as proof. His claim comes back to him carrying a masthead. That is supply-seeking in its plainest form: the reward is seeing his words and his name treated as news, and he doesn't have to argue for anything.

## What the week asked this page to answer

The timing makes the selection easier to read. In the days before, part of his coalition turned on him over the war. Greene said "I Wish I Had Never Supported Him," and Carlson and Massie were floating a 2028 challenge. His answer that the USS Lincoln's deployment was "not nearly long enough" angered military families. After nearly six months of war, the page offers a story in which the war is being won with money and without casualties. Iran is "collapsing," an ally is cutting it off, and US pressure is working. This is the redemption arc he usually tells: a costly conflict turns into a squeeze that wins. The same morning's other shares fit that story too: "US Business Is Booming," "America Is About to Make a Fortune in the Middle East and Gulf," and Newsom praising Trump Accounts. Each is outside validation on a day when his base was fighting in public.

Some things on the page cut against his story, and posting it doesn't erase them. It reports that "Tehran officials have threatened retaliation." It quotes a 73-year-old Tehran resident saying "There is no hope for a deal or peace." It notes that the rial has been falling "since November due to years of sanctions and persistently high inflation," so the collapse isn't all his doing. None of this is highlighted or disputed. He posted the whole page, and what counts for him is the headline and the credit. This is selective attention, not distortion. The page is real reporting, and he isn't saying anything false about it.

## Defenses and framing

Posting a whole scanned page gives no quotable words for most defense-mechanism coding. At most, the page's "self-deception of fearful nations that still believe accommodating aggression can secure a durable peace" (Bessent's line) frames the war as a split between resolve and appeasement. It fits the "LOSERS ALL" attack on the war's critics inside MAGA from four days earlier, but he didn't write it here. The dominant motive is agency: credit for coercive power ("$QUEEZING," "collapse the regime"). The implied contrasting other is the Iranian regime, with the domestic critics in the background.

The danger reading rests on the target. The coercion named is financial: sanctions, currency collapse, cutting off trade. The page contains no dehumanizing language about Iranians and no call for anyone to act. Its only threat language comes from Tehran's foreign ministry. War context raises the stakes of "collapse the regime" as a policy aim, but as a post it amplifies state sanctions policy. It doesn't point anyone toward a target.

## Who put it up

With no text, attribution depends on timing and pattern, and neither is conclusive. It went up at 15:46 UTC, 11:46 a.m. Eastern, during business hours. It was one of a run of media shares that morning: link cards from the NY Post, Breitbart, and an X article, plus two other media-only posts. That rhythm looks like staff curation. Against that, Trump's own taste for print clippings is well documented, and a page that quotes him and credits him by name is the kind of thing he has historically picked out himself. The attribution is about who chose the page, and the evidence doesn't settle it.

## Authorship Analysis

**Uncertain** (score: 40%)

### Indicators

- Posted 11:46 a.m. Eastern, inside business hours
- Part of a morning run of link and media shares (NY Post, Breitbart, Mario Nawfal, two other media-only posts), consistent with curated batches
- No written text, so no stylometric evidence either way
- Scanned print clipping that quotes his own Truth Social post and credits him by name, a type of item he has historically selected personally

## Psychological Profile

### Traits

**Big Five:**
- Extraversion: 60%
- Agreeableness: 20%
- Conscientiousness: 50%
- Neuroticism: 30%
- Openness: 30%

Strongest facet: Assertiveness (credit-claiming for coercive power)

**Motives:**
- Agency: 85%
- Communion: 10%

Primary drive: validation

### Narrative

- **Role:** Economic warrior whose squeeze is breaking an enemy regime
- **Arc:** redemption
- **Contrasting:** The Iranian regime; implicitly, domestic critics of the war

**Identity Claims:**
- The leader who 'decimated Iran's economy' (via Bessent's quote)
- The one whose predictions come true ('IRAN IS COMPLETELY COLLAPSING!!!')

### State

**Grandiose State**

**Trigger:** Supply Seeking (Newspaper coverage quoting his own post and Bessent's credit, 'President Trump decimated Iran's economy,' arriving amid MAGA defections over the Iran war)

Sentiment: +0.50

### Clinical

**Malignant Narcissism:**
- Narcissistic: 35%
- Antisocial: 5%
- Paranoid: 5%
- Sadism: 10%

**Defense Mechanisms:**
- rationalization (neurotic)

**Cognitive Complexity:**
- Complexity: 0%

**Parasocial Techniques:**
- Presenting mainstream print coverage as outside validation of his own claims
- Showing followers a winning scoreboard in a contested war

## Tags

- iran-war (90%)
- sanctions (80%)
- self-citation-loop (70%)
- supply-seeking (60%)
- media-only (50%)
- maga-rift-context (40%)

## That day

_From trump.fm's machine-generated digest of the day, not his words._

**Trump floats renaming Lake Ontario "Lake America" a day after Canada trade talks collapse**

A day after trade talks with Canada fell apart, Trump opened his morning by floating a plan to rename Lake Ontario "Lake America." He then sharply denied a claim that he wanted to stop Canadians speaking French, and by mid-morning he was declaring that Canada "will be entitled no longer." Between those posts he took a hard line abroad, calling Iran's crackdown a crisis that "must be stopped" and warning that any boat laying new mines in the Strait of Hormuz would be destroyed. Just before noon his account put out more than half the day's posts in about ten minutes, mostly friendly news links that look staff-assembled, five of them about a single South Carolina campaign stop where he told voters to "pretend I'm on the ballot." The afternoon closed with a warm tribute to Dolly Parton and a week of flags at half-staff, and a long overnight break before the morning posts points to a normal night's sleep.

Full digest for 2026-08-25: https://trump.fm/date/2026-08-25/analysis

## Citation

- APA: Trump, D. J. (2026, August 25).  [Social media post]. Truth Social. trump.fm. https://trump.fm/post/ts_117156925333799291
- MLA: Trump, Donald J. "" Truth Social, 25 Aug. 2026. trump.fm, https://trump.fm/post/ts_117156925333799291. Accessed 9 Oct. 2026.
- Chicago: Donald J. Trump, "," Truth Social, August 25, 2026, archived at trump.fm, https://trump.fm/post/ts_117156925333799291.

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