The Iran War Likely Has Hurt Beijing’s Ambitions for the Yuan
Fighting in the Middle East seems to have delivered a setback to Beijing’s long-perused campaign to chip away at the U.S. dollar’s global dominance.
A helicopter flies over the Red Zone area, amid heightened security measures ahead of anticipated U.S.–Iran peace talks, in Islamabad, Pakistan, on April 20, 2026.Aamir Qureshi/AFP via Getty Images
Fighting in the Persian Gulf has upset government and business calculations the world over. The belligerents—the United States, Iran, and to a lesser extent Saudi Arabia and other petro states in the area—have, of course, had to rethink strategies that seemed reasonable only a few weeks ago.
Milton Ezrati
Author
Milton Ezrati is a contributing editor at The National Interest, an affiliate of the Center for the Study of Human Capital at the University at Buffalo (SUNY), and chief economist for Vested, a New York-based communications firm. Before joining Vested, he served as chief market strategist and economist for Lord, Abbett & Co. He also writes frequently for City Journal and blogs regularly for Forbes. His latest book is “Thirty Tomorrows: The Next Three Decades of Globalization, Demographics, and How We Will Live.”
