The Maximum pressure campaign was a campaign of intensified sanctions against Iran that was initiated by United States president Donald Trump in 2018.
The campaign was inaugurated in November 2018 after the US backed out of a 2015 deal with Iran that would lift sanctions in exchange for limitations on the Iranian nuclear program. Most large Iranian financial institutions were subjected to sanctions, and Iran's gross official reserves fell from $70 billion in 2017 to $4 billion by 2020; US sanctions deprived Iran of $200 billion in oil revenue and investments. However, the campaign failed to counter Iran's proxy influence in the region, and Iran's Hamas proxy in Palestine launched Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, a large-scale terror offensive against Israel, in October 2023. Against the wishes of regional allies, Trump's successor Joe Biden unfroze $6 billion in Iranian assets later that year. In February 2025, a month after his second inauguration, Trump signed executive action to restore the maximum pressure campaign against Iran, which was already suffering from energy and economic crises that left 57% of Iranians in malnourishment and 30% in poverty.