As it prepares to impose sanctions on Iran’s trading partners, the US has threatened Tehran with “the biggest financial attack ever carried out,” writes the Reuters.
In response, Iran has vowed to stop all oil exports from the Persian Gulf if the economic war continues.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is scheduled to hold a press conference on the 24th of August at 1:00 p.m. Washington time (20:00 Latvian time) to announce new economic sanctions against the country, which has faced them continuously since the Islamic Revolution in 1979. In an opinion piece published in the Financial Times on the 23rd of August, Bessent wrote that on the 24th of August will begin an economic D-Day, which will be the biggest financial attack on an enemy ever carried out. Bessent was referring to the American landing in Normandy on the 6th of June, 1944, known as D-Day. The operation launched the invasion of German-occupied Western Europe, which helped lead to the Allied victory in World War II.
The United States and Iran have not exchanged direct military strikes for weeks, and there have been no talks to end the six-month conflict. Thousands of people have been killed since the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran on the 28th of February, mostly in Iran and Lebanon.
Iran has managed to maintain a large enough stockpile of missiles and drones to attack neighboring countries
in the Persian Gulf and threaten tankers in the Strait of Hormuz. This was the main route for the Gulf states to export oil and natural gas, and shipping through it has virtually ground to a halt since the war began, raising fuel prices worldwide. Meanwhile, there is no information on whether the war has stopped Iran’s nuclear program, which was the main goal of the United States and Israel.
Without naming specific measures, Bessent implied that the United States would target countries that cooperate with Iran. He wrote in the Financial Times that countries would act wisely if they carefully considered the consequences of engaging in transactions with Iran.
Iran has been preparing for the start of sanctions for several days and has published several harsh statements threatening a military response. On the 23rd of August, Mohsen Rezaei, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, hinted at a possible economic response. He said that as the economic war continues, not a single drop of oil will be exported from the Persian Gulf countries, neither through the Strait of Hormuz nor by other routes, and Iran will consider any country’s involvement in US economic sanctions against the Iranians as a declaration of war.
Bessent has previously urged China to cooperate with the United States,
noting that China has historically received about half of its oil imports from the Persian Gulf region. A spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington responded with a statement saying that sanctions and pressure do not help solve the problem and called for diplomacy.
Iran’s economy was already feeling the brunt of international economic sanctions before US and Israeli strikes severely damaged its infrastructure. While Tehran appears resilient on the surface, Iranian officials have warned that further economic sanctions could deepen the crisis, reignite unrest and damage the Islamic republic’s legitimacy.
When the war began, Iran was already suffering from high inflation, a weak currency, energy shortages and deep structural weaknesses. It must now also deal with damaged infrastructure, disrupted trade, lost industry and the cost of rebuilding.
The last talks between the US and Iran took place in Switzerland in June, and several countries, including Qatar, Pakistan and Turkey, have sought to make diplomatic progress towards peace.
Read also: “We are in control”: US secretly establishes oil corridor through Strait of Hormuz
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