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As Iran’s latest round of national protests play out, with widespread reports that the regime has brutally cracked down on protestors —with some public executions reportedly scheduled to begin tomorrow— President Trump dialed up his tariff dashboard to ‘11.’ The Washington Post reported the story, headlined, “Trump announces 25 percent tariff on countries that trade with Iran.” He is getting pretty handy with that thing.

By all accounts, Iran’s economy is on the ropes. The country is experiencing something that may not technically be hyperinflation, but is the next closest thing. The protests this time are over what most commentators agree is profound economic mismanagement. Iranian officials have shut off the entire country’s Internet access, even deploying military-grade electronic jammers to block Starlink signals. Human rights groups claim that hundreds of protestors have been killed by police (some reports claim the figure is in the thousands).

This morning, the BBC reported that German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said “we are now witnessing the final days and weeks” of the Iranian regime, and that other European countries are summoning Iran’s ambassadors over the increasing violence against protestors. “When a regime can only maintain power through violence, then it is effectively at its end. The population is now rising up against this regime,” Merz added.