TEHRAN – Iran has warned every state in its region that joining Washington’s economic offensive will be treated as an act of enmity, threatening a seismic response and the closure of all oil exports out of the Gulf.
Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, set out the warning in an interview broadcast.
‘Any country that takes part in imposing economic restrictions on us will be regarded as an enemy.
‘We will first negotiate with them. We will hold talks and tell them to step aside and distance themselves from the United States. But if they do not act, we will strike. We will target that country’s interests.’
Should Iran’s neighbours take part, he said, not a drop of oil would leave the region, by the Strait of Hormuz or by the alternative routes built to bypass it. A fifth of the world’s oil and gas passes through the Strait in peacetime.
The warnings answer Trump’s announcement of what he called an Economic D-Day, threatening any state whose banks, businesses, airports or government bodies give Iran a lifeline.
His treasury secretary Scott Bessent said the following day that the object was to collapse the Iranian government, and that other countries were being told they were either with Washington or against it. Bessent set out the measures at a press conference yesterday.
Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi answered on Friday by listing what came before: ‘14 years ago: Most crippling sanctions in history. Failed. 8 years ago: Maximum pressure. Failed. 5 months ago: Unconditional surrender. Failed. Today: Most crushing economic operation ever. Bound to fail,’ he wrote, adding: ‘We have seen this movie before. Same bull. Different bullies.’
