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Key Iranian officials warned of “seismic” retaliation against the country’s Middle East neighbors and the U.S. ahead of what the Trump administration describes as a massive new economic sanctions push, expected to be announced Monday.
Mohsen Rezaei, the recently appointed secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, told Iranian state-run media that any nation joining Washington’s economic sanctions campaign against Tehran will be considered an enemy. He also threatened that Iran will do whatever it can to fully stop energy exports from the region, signaling that Tehran is doubling down on its most powerful remaining leverage: squeezing the global oil market to extract a more favorable deal with the Trump administration.
“If they start such an action, we will not allow a single drop of oil to pass through the Persian Gulf. Oil will leave neither through the Strait of Hormuz nor through the Persian Gulf,” he said.
“If [President Trump] wants to do something, we will retaliate in a seismic manner,” Mr. Rezaei told Iran’s IRIB state broadcaster in an interview that aired Saturday. “Any country that takes part in imposing economic restrictions on us will be regarded as an enemy.”
Mr. Rezaei, widely viewed as a hard-liner whose appointment signals a tougher Iranian stance against the U.S. and other Persian Gulf states, specifically warned that Tehran could target other oil-shipping routes outside the region.
Maritime traffic through the crucial Strait of Hormuz is already at a near-standstill as the Iran war nears the six-month mark. The Trump administration appears set to use economic sanctions, rather than more direct military strikes, to pressure Iran into a deal that fully opens the strait to commercial shipping.
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Iran is suffering greatly under the weight of a U.S. naval blockade and already harsh sanctions aimed at economically isolating the Islamic regime. Now the administration is ready to go further, though the exact details of its new economic sanctions plan have not been disclosed.
Mr. Trump announced an upcoming round of sanctions, which he dubbed “economic D-Day,” and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent amplified the announcement last week. Those restrictions are likely to serve as a substitute for further major U.S. military operations, Mr. Bessent said.
“It is time for our allies and the rest of the world to make a decision,” Mr. Bessent told CNBC in a Thursday interview. “We are going to squash the economy of this murderous regime.”
The U.S. blockade has had a massive impact on Iran’s oil economy, which has long stood as its economic lifeline even during periods of intense strain. Crude oil production in the country has fallen dramatically in recent months, now standing barely above domestic needs, according to oil-tracking firm Tanker Trackers.
Top leaders of the Iranian government acknowledge that the situation cannot last. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told state media Sunday that his nation must get out of the economic crisis.
“Capital and money are extremely sensitive to risk,” Mr. Pezeshkian said. “We have to remove this risk from the country.”
Mr. Pezeshkian’s comments underscore what appears to be a growing split within the Iranian government over how to handle negotiations with the U.S. Some favor diplomacy, and others are more willing to escalate militarily or otherwise lash out against America and its allies.
Should Iran retaliate militarily, it could once again target U.S. military bases in the region. Previous attacks on those installations have led to American casualties and the destruction of U.S. military equipment.
Iran could also try to further clamp down on energy exports from the Persian Gulf. In concert with proxy allies such as the Yemen-based Houthis, Iran could try to choke other oil shipping routes from the region or perhaps aggressively target key pieces of energy infrastructure in Saudi Arabia or other oil-producing Middle Eastern nations.
Critics of the war against Iran say it has become clear that the U.S. has failed in its military objectives.
“What I reject is the catastrophic leadership of Donald Trump and [Israeli Prime Minister] Benjamin Netanyahu that has led to this debacle in the Middle East against Iran, a six-month war that was launched illegally, that was conceived incompetently, and that has been lost,” Rep. Jake Auchincloss, Massachusetts Democrat and retired Marine, told “Fox News Sunday.”
• Vaughn Cockayne contributed to this article, which is based in part on wire service reports.
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