Iranian Leaders Think Trump Will Blink First

CAIRO (AP) — U.S. and Israeli airstrikes crippled thousands of factories in Iran, and the damage is reverberating across the country’s economy. Hundreds of thousands of Iranians have lost their jobs, and millions more could face the same fate. Most damaging, Israeli strikes knocked out most production of steel and petrochemicals, causing a surge in prices for metals and plastic and threatening wider sectors. Things could get worse under the U.S. blockade. Still, Iran’s leaders are betting that an economy built to be self-reliant under decades of sanctions can endure the pain longer than U.S. President Donald Trump.