Iran said on Friday that its response to any new US threats would be “devastating” after Washington vowed to impose the harshest financial sanctions in history aimed at toppling the Iranian leadership. Washington is preparing to impose the sanctions, details of which US Treasury Secretary Scott Bisnett said he would announce on Monday. US President Donald Trump had previously warned of economic consequences for any country providing “any kind of assistance to Iran.”
Major General Ali Abdollahi, Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, said that “the Islamic Republic’s response will be wide-ranging and decisive.”
Official media quoted him as saying that “the Iranian armed forces, with their readiness at the land, sea, air, air defense and cyber space levels, will respond to any new threats from the enemy with overwhelming, painful and devastating responses.”
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Tehran's chief negotiator in indirect talks with the United States, said on Friday that Washington appears to have concluded it cannot win a direct military confrontation. During a visit to Iraq, he stated, "We must devise plans to deal with the unjust sanctions so that we can overcome them." He accused the United States and Israel of resorting to what he termed an economic and "knowledge war."
Bisent: The measures should not raise oil prices.
Bisent said the measures should not raise oil prices. Oil prices dipped slightly today but are on track for their second consecutive weekly gain after rising yesterday following the renewed US threat of sanctions.
“I’m not sure why oil prices are higher in this context,” Bisent told CNBC. “If we are applying maximum economic pressure, it means that a large-scale resumption of military operations is unlikely.”
The conflict has claimed thousands of lives, drawn the Gulf states into its vortex, and driven up global fuel prices, as Iran attacked shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly a fifth of the world's traded oil shipments passed before February. Data from ship-tracking firm Kpler showed that only seven cargo ships transited the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, half the number recorded the previous day, compared to more than 130 ships daily before the war.
The United States and Iran announced ceasefire agreements twice, in April and June, aimed at restoring freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz as a step toward ending the nearly six-month-long conflict, but both quickly collapsed. Bisent told CNBC he would reveal “exactly what we’re going to do” with Iran at a press conference on Monday. “We’re going to bring down this regime. It’s time for our allies and the rest of the world to make a decision,” he added, describing the reimposed naval blockade on Iran in July and the toughest sanctions in history as a “double whammy.”
Iran's regime has withstood harsh and sustained economic sanctions for nearly 50 years, since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, but the people suffer from high inflation, a weak currency, and energy shortages, along with damaged infrastructure. Some Iranians interviewed by Reuters said that further economic sanctions could exacerbate the hardships, weaken the religious establishment, and lead to unrest.
Before Bisent made his remarks, the Iranian Foreign Ministry stated that the US sanctions would not “cause the slightest hesitation in the Iranian people’s determination to protect Iran’s independence, dignity, and national sovereignty.” Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, considered a relative moderate and who has expressed concern about the economy, said that Iran’s response to any attack would be “crushing,” but reiterated a previous stance that the war should end now that the United States is internationally isolated.
Internal pressure on Trump
Trump is under domestic pressure to end the war, at a time when high fuel prices are eroding his approval ratings and threatening Republicans' chances of retaining control of Congress in the November midterm elections. Bisent said that China gets half of its energy from the Gulf, so it makes sense for it to "join this trend."
Data from Kpler analytics firm for 2025 indicated that China purchased more than 80 percent of Iranian oil shipments. However, the escalation of the US economic war with Beijing, which has eased previous restrictions on its exports of vital rare earth minerals, carries the risk of retaliatory measures.
Trade sources that Iranian crude oil offers to Chinese buyers have already declined since the United States reimposed sanctions on Iranian ports in mid-July. The Chinese embassy in Washington stated that “sanctions and pressure do not help resolve the issue,” calling for a diplomatic solution. The tightening of sanctions carries other risks, particularly for US allies in the Gulf, some of whose energy facilities and desalination plants, on which they rely for drinking water, have been targeted by Iranian attacks.
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