Nicole Lapin

The Trump administration declared it an overwhelming success and a ceasefire was reached on June 24th, 2025.

But here's the thing about ceasefire agreements in a conflict as deep and as complex as this one.

They are very fragile.

Iran was committed to rebuilding its nuclear program.

The U.S.

and Iran went back to the negotiating table multiple rounds of indirect talks with Oman as a mediator.

Then, as recently as February 27th, just one day before these strikes, Oman's foreign minister announced that Iran had agreed to degrade its nuclear stockpiles.

And suddenly, briefly, it looked like diplomacy might have had a pulse.

But it did not.

Not yet, anyway.

Less than 24 hours after the announcement from Oman, Israel launched strikes on Iranian targets, followed by U.S.

forces.

President Trump announced the operation at 2.30 in the morning.

U.S.

forces say that they've now hit over a thousand targets in the opening days of the operation alone.

Iran's response has been sweeping and it's deliberately spreading beyond its own borders.

Iran's strategy is to make this conflict as painful and as costly as possible for the United States and its allies by targeting the Gulf countries that host American military bases and allow U.S.

operations to run from their borders.

Disrupting the American financial system is also a weapon, and it's already being used.

To prepare for economic fallout, foreign policy and financial analysts are watching a few things very closely right now.