The Supreme Court on Monday sided with President Donald Trump for now in his effort to impose sweeping new restrictions on distributing mail ballots, putting on hold a lower-court ruling that had blocked key parts of the plan ahead of November’s midterm elections.

The justices, over three dissents, paused a ruling by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston that prevented the Trump administration from carrying out portions of a March executive order involving the U.S. Postal Service and voter eligibility lists. The court’s three liberal justices dissented.

But the decision does not immediately allow the Postal Service to put its new mail-ballot system into effect.

A separate nationwide injunction issued Aug. 11 by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston still blocks USPS from implementing the new procedures for the Nov. 3 elections. The administration would have to overcome that order as well.

The distinction was central to the Supreme Court’s decision.

The majority said Trump’s executive order itself does not require states to change how they conduct elections. Instead, it directs federal agencies to develop policies that could later impose requirements on states. Because those policies had not yet been implemented when 23 states and Washington, D.C., challenged the order, the court said the challenge was premature.

The justices stressed they were not deciding whether Trump’s order or the policies developed under it are ultimately legal.

“The Court’s disposition of this application does not mean that any measure taken by the Government to implement the Order will necessarily be lawful,” the majority wrote. “On that score, time will tell.”

The Postal Service last week finalized rules intended to carry out part of Trump’s order, including new requirements involving ballot envelopes, barcodes and information states must provide USPS. Those rules remain blocked by Talwani’s separate injunction.

The case now returns to the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals as the underlying legal fight continues. Some states have already started preparing to send ballots to military and overseas voters in early September.

The U.S. announced an “economic D-Day” campaign Monday to isolate Iran from the global economy, threatening penalties against “enablers” that continue doing business with Tehran.

The move is part of Washington’s bid to sever the trade lifeline that has sustained Tehran’s economy through nearly six months of war.

While enforcement details are sketchy, the threat could still put the U.S. on a collision course with some of Tehran’s major trade partners.

China

China is the biggest buyer of Iranian oil and serves as a crucial link to the global economy for Tehran, accounting for about 90% of its oil exports, according to the U.S. government.

China reported $9.96 billion in bilateral trade with Iran in 2025, excluding the roughly $31.2 billion in unreported Iranian crude oil exports to China that year, according to the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission.

Independent Chinese refiners take in the bulk of it, often rebranded as Malaysian or Indonesian crude and settled through intermediaries outside the dollar system, according to Kpler. The U.S. Treasury has sanctioned several of those refineries this year for Iranian oil purchases, while sparing Chinese financial institutions.

Beijing has openly opposed U.S. sanctions against Iran, arguing that economic pressure will not resolve the disputes. In May, China ordered domestic firms to disregard U.S. sanctions on five refiners linked to the Iranian oil trade.

While Beijing is unlikely to push back directly on Washington’s sanctions push, it will “quietly step up compliance” among state banks and oil companies to avoid getting caught in the net, said Dan Wang, China director at Eurasia Group, pointing to “a dichotomy between the official statement and the private practice.”

“Chinese authorities care more about dollar access in financing and market entry to the U.S.,” she said.

United Arab Emirates

The Emirates, located just 50 miles from Iran across the Persian Gulf, has long been a major trading hub for Iran.

The bilateral trade amounted to around $28 billion in 2024, when the Emirates was its largest source of imports, contributing over 30%, according to the World Trade Organization data. The UAE was also Iran’s third-largest export destination, making up 12% of its shipments, totaling more than $7 billion.

That relationship hit a snag last week as the UAE moved to suspend all trade and financial transactions with Iran, following two ballistic missiles fired toward Emirati territory, one of which targeted UAE-owned tankers.

Iran has relied on UAE banks and its financial system to access the world economy through illicit, often murky transactions, and cutting off Iran would require more forceful actions from Emirati authorities to crack down on opaque financial and trading activity, according to U.S.-based think tank The Washington Institute.

“The majority of Iran’s transshipment, smuggling, and shadow banking activity takes place in Dubai, so Washington must do what it can to help the UAE’s national leaders in Abu Dhabi convince and cajole Dubai’s leaders to play ball,” Matthew Levitt, a former U.S. Treasury official, wrote in a note on Monday.

Turkey

Turkey maintains significant commercial ties with Tehran, importing Iranian natural gas and exporting manufactured goods south.

The Turkey-Iran bilateral trade reached $5.7 billion in 2024, according to the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with Ankara exporting mostly machinery and parts, chemical and agricultural products, while importing energy products from Tehran.

Meanwhile, under a 25-year gas supply contract between the two countries that expired at the end of July, Turkey’s imports of Iranian gas spiked this year while Iran’s share of Turkey’s total natural gas imports rose to 18.6%, according to local media.

While Ankara has sought to diversify toward other suppliers, expanding pipeline imports from Azerbaijan and Russia, it has, so far, not signaled that it intends to cut Iran off.

Iraq

Iraq, dependent on Iranian electricity and gas, has historically traded billions with Tehran.

Iran renewed a five-year contract in March 2024 to supply Iraq with up to nearly 660 billion cubic feet of natural gas a year, and electricity imports from Iran accounted for more than 30% of its electricity generation in 2023, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Iraq-Iran trade reached more than $10 billion in 2025, according to Reuters, with Tehran exporting food, consumer goods and other products to the Iraqi market. The trade has dwindled this year amid increased security risks in the region and intermittent disruptions along border crossings since the war started in late February.

Iraq reportedly pays Iran around $4 billion to $5 billion a year for natural gas for electricity generation. The fresh U.S. sanctions could curtail Baghdad’s payments for Iranian energy.

India

India, among Iran’s top five trading partners, has seen its bilateral trade with Iran fall in recent years to around $1.6 billion in the year ending March 2026, according to India’s Department of Commerce, down from $2.3 billion in the year through to March 2023.

New Delhi primarily exports rice, tea, sugar and pharmaceuticals to Iran, and imports dry and fresh fruits from Iran.

In April, India resumed importing crude oil from Iran following a seven-year halt, after the U.S. temporarily lifted sanctions on Iranian crude exports.

But those trades now will be tested if Washington makes good on its threat to sanction any entity, including Indian refiners, that have procured Iranian energy.

In this market, there are several “overlooked gems” that provide good opportunities — and pay dividends, according to ClearBridge Investments’ Michael Clarfeld. Stocks have been volatile this summer, with artificial-intelligence companies swinging up and down, depending on shifting investor views of infrastructure spending. Treasury yields have also weighed on stocks, with the 30-year bond yield climbing to a 19-year high last week before dipping back down. Yields declined on Monday after CNBC reported the Treasury Department could use its General Account to help fund increased purchases of government bonds. Despite the rocky summer, though, the market remains near their all-time highs. The S & P 500 closed at a new record of 7,798.99 on Aug. 13. And while there have been some periods when the bull market has broadened out to include more stocks, the market remains heavily concentrated in mega-cap technology companies. “The longer these things go on, like this market concentration and momentum, we get lulled into losing our perspective on how extreme the situation is,” said Clarfeld, portfolio manager in charge of ClearBridge’s dividend strategy. The funds he manages include ClearBridge Dividend Strategy Fund (SOPAX) and Franklin ClearBridge Enhanced Income ETF (YLDE). The former, rated four stars by Morningstar , yields 1.96% and has a 1% expense ratio. The latter boasts a 1.93% yield and 0.48% expense ratio. So far this year, both are slightly underperforming the S & P 500, which yields 1.02%. SOPAX YTD mountain ClearBridge Dividend Strategy Fund year to date Historical data shows that periods of narrow, momentum-driven markets are typically followed by periods of broader market participation — when dividend-growth portfolios excel, Clarfeld noted. ‘Pretty terrific opportunities’ Clarfeld isn’t predicting an immediate shift away from the current market environment, or that investors shouldn’t own tech. But he believes investors should be aware of risk and stay diversified. In the meantime, there are stocks that are going unnoticed by many investors right now, he said. “People are so myopically focused on things to do with AI that they’re overlooking things in other areas, and it’s really creating some pretty terrific opportunities,” Clarfeld said. He breaks it down into two areas: “pedestrian” companies that are high-quality businesses and “tangential” names that have been taken down during the concerns over the disruptive effect of AI on software . Two unexciting names Clarfeld likes are The Williams Companies and Unilever , which yield 2.98% and 3.46%, respectively. One of the largest natural gas pipeline companies in the country, Williams is a business not particularly commodity sensitive, he said. It is the second largest position in SOPAX, at 4.05% as of July 31. “We have been seeing a big growth in natural gas production and natural gas infrastructure for 15 years because of the shale boom and renaissance, and then it has gotten turbocharged over the last year or two as the energy demands are going surging with AI and data centers,” Clarfeld said. WMB YTD mountain The Williams Companies year to date On top of that, Williams has developed custom power solutions, its balance sheet is in good shape and it is growing earnings and cash flow, he said. Clarfeld sees “phenomenal growth” ahead for many years because of the need for data center power. Williams has an average analyst rating of overweight and 21% upside to the average price target, according to FactSet. Shares are up about 18% year to date. His other pick, U.K.-based Unilever, a global maker of consumer staples ranging from Dove soap to Hellmann’s mayonnaise, is executing well, Clarfeld said. “They’re growing in an industry or a sector where volume growth has been tougher to come by,” he said. “They’ve been having robust organic volume growth.” UL YTD mountain Unilever year to date Unilever makes up 2.67% of SOPAX. The stock has an average analyst rating of overweight and 11% upside to the average price target, according to FactSet. Shares are down fractionally year to date. Lastly, a third name Clarfeld likes is Automatic Data Processing , which took a hit earlier this year but has since rebounded. ADP, which offers a 2.42% dividend yield, uses software to process payrolls, he noted. ADP YTD mountain ADP year to date “When you think about businesses that are likely to be disintermediated by AI, payrolls would seem like it’s one of the last of them,” Clarfeld said. “It’s very mission critical.” ADP makes up 2.3% of SOPAX. It has an average analyst rating of hold and 2% upside to the average price target, according to FactSet. Other top holdings in the ClearBridge Dividend Strategy Fund include ExxonMobil , Microsoft , Alphabet , Apollo Global Management and Marsh & McLennan .

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