U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent invoked the famous D-Day landing of Allied troops in France in 1944 when announcing new sanctions against Iran.
But the measures are better compared to another World War Two amphibious landing, the considerably less successful Anzio beachhead in Italy.
The Anzio battle was marked by the initial success of Allied landings, but a lack of decisive leadership saw the campaign stall and turn into a months-long campaign of attrition that largely failed to achieve its initial objectives.
Bessent's new measures aim to strangle Iran economically and target countries and corporates doing business with the Islamic Republic in five sectors, namely digital assets, technology, gold, aviation and shipping.
But rather than going for broke up front, Bessent is putting countries on notice that they will have to work with the United States or face losing access to the global dollar-based financial system.
In other words, the new measures are more of a threat than a reality.
But even if they do become reality there are doubts as to whether they will be effective enough to force Iran's rulers to capitulate, or indeed whether they will be severe enough to force a desperate Iranian populace to successfully rise up and overthrow their clerical rulers.
Iran has proven adept at getting around sanctions in the past by setting up new front companies and working with its allies such as China.
With Beijing unlikely to join any U.S. sanctions, it would mean that Bessent would have to be willing to impose measures against Chinese banks, refiners, shippers and traders, a level of escalation that Washington may be cautious about pursuing.
What the new sanctions do achieve is to confirm that a diplomatic solution to the Iran conflict is a distant option, and they reinforce the view being put forward by the administration of President Donald Trump that some form of victory is still possible.
Another lesson from history is that when both sides in a war are convinced they can still win and that time is on their side, the conflict will continue until this calculation shifts.
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