Iran has warned of a “devastating” response to new US threats as Washington prepares what it calls the toughest sanctions in history to pressure Tehran’s leadership. The measures could further disrupt Iranian oil flows and raise risks for Gulf energy supplies.
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Lisi Niesner
Iran said on Friday
that its response to any new U.S. threats would be "devastating"
after Washington pledged to impose the toughest financial
penalties in history with the aim of toppling the Iranian
leadership.
U.S. Treasury chief Scott Bessent said he would give details
on Monday of the planned sanctions, which follow a warning from
President Donald Trump of economic consequences against any
country that provided "any type of lifeline to Iran."
The chief of staff of Iran's Armed Forces, Major General Ali
Abdollahi, said the Islamic Republic's reaction would be broad
and decisive.
"With preparedness across land, sea, air, air defence and
cyberspace, Iran's armed forces will respond to the enemy's new
threats with crushing, punishing and devastating responses,"
Abdollahi was quoted as saying by Iranian media.
Iran's parliament speaker, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, the
country's main negotiator in mediated talks with the United
States, said Washington appeared to have concluded it could not
prevail in its direct military confrontation.
"We must make plans to deal with the unjust sanctions so
that we can overcome them," he said in neighbouring Iraq,
accusing the U.S. and Israel of resorting to what he said was
economic and "cognitive" warfare.
Oil prices steadied on Friday but were on track for a second
weekly rise on concern over Gulf energy exports. Oil hit a more
than three-week high on Thursday after the sanctions threat,
intended to force Iran to agree an end to a conflict that has
stranded millions of barrels of Middle Eastern oil.
"I'm not sure why oil has popped up on this," Bessent told
CNBC. "If we are doing the maximum economic pressure, then that
means that likely there will not be a large-scale kinetic
restart," he said, using a term referring to military force.
Just seven commodity ships sailed along the Strait of Hormuz
on Thursday, half the previous day's tally, data from
shiptracker Kpler showed, compared with more than 130 a day
before the war.
Thousands of people have been killed in the war, which has
drawn in Gulf nations and raised global fuel prices as Iran has
attacked shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, which before
February carried about a fifth of all traded oil.
The U.S. and Iran have twice announced ceasefire deals, in
April and June, aiming to restore the free flow of ships through
Hormuz on a path towards ending the nearly six-month-old
conflict, but both quickly crumbled.
Before Bessent spoke, Iran's foreign ministry said U.S.
sanctions would not "create even the slightest hesitation in
Iranians’ determination to safeguard Iran’s independence,
dignity and national sovereignty."
Bessent told CNBC he would "talk about exactly what we're
going to do" on Iran at a press conference on Monday.
"We are going to collapse this regime. It is time for our
allies and the rest of the world to make a decision," he said,
describing a naval blockade reimposed on Iran in July and the
"toughest sanctions in history" as a "one-two punch".
Source: Read the original article on www.thehindubusinessline.com