{
  "id": 5206819,
  "title": "The sanctions illusion",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/03/the-sanctions-illusion",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-09-03T00:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Free Malaysia Today",
    "slug": "free-malaysia-today",
    "url": "https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/opinion/2026/09/03/the-sanctions-illusion"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": null,
  "summary": "The article \"The sanctions illusion\" in Free Malaysia Today argues that economic sanctions, such as the US-imposed financial sanctions on Iran in 2012, are not as precise as their proponents claim. The study using microdata from Iranian household income and expenditure surveys reveals that poorer households suffer significantly more than wealthier ones, losing up to 2.8 times more in purchasing power. This regressive impact is due to the loss of ability to process international transactions, import goods, and maintain foreign-exchange reserves, leading to inflation that disproportionately affects ordinary households. The article emphasizes the moral implications of sanctions, highlighting their distributional harms and the need to consider these realities in the ethical evaluation of coercive statecraft.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Free Malaysia Today",
        "title": "The sanctions illusion",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/03/the-sanctions-illusion-5210961",
        "published": "2026-09-03T00:00:00.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}