How Economic Warfare Affects Global M&A

Executive summary

On the 24th of August 2026, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) initiated “Operation Economic Outcast,” a broad economic warfare campaign against the Islamic Republic of Iran. The operation expands secondary sanctions with the purpose of targeting Iran’s network of shadow banks, currency houses, and shipping routes. Washington has weaponized the primary M&A clearing mechanisms by the forcing of international strategic and private equity institutions to either forfeit access to the global financial system or to enforce U.S. national security policy. M&A Due diligence is no longer isolated to financial box-ticking; it must now involve geopolitical analysis. What goes on in the world is now a core determinant of deal valuation, cross-border transactions, and foreign exchange across all global markets.