The Iran war has reached its endgame: a costly stalemate.

Six months after US and Israeli forces attacked Iran, assassinating its supreme leader, the Iranian government is under economic siege, but it still holds power and believes it has time on its side.

A threat by US President Donald Trump to impose crippling new sanctions on Iran faces a fundamental problem: Tehran is betting he will not take the final step to break the stalemate — aggressively enforcing secondary sanctions on the countries keeping its economy afloat, foremost among them China and India.

Washington’s latest measures, announced on Monday, mark a new phase in the conflict that began on February 28, shifting the battlefield from missiles and airstrikes to Iran’s oil revenues, banks and trading partners.

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