TEHRAN, Aug. 22 -- Abbas Araghchi's answer to the largest sanctions campaign in American history was a list, and it was short enough to fit inside a single post. Fourteen years ago Washington promised the most crippling sanctions in the history of sanctions. Eight years ago it promised maximum pressure. Five months ago it demanded unconditional surrender. This week it promised the most crushing economic operation ever mounted against any country. The first three failed, Iran's foreign minister wrote on Friday, and the fourth is bound to. Same bull, he added. Different bullies.

The phrasing is glib and the argument is not new, which is why it is worth testing rather than waving away. Araghchi is making a falsifiable claim about fourteen y...