Iran said on Friday that its response to any new US threats would be “devastating”, after Washington pledged to impose the heaviest financial penalties in its history with the stated aim of bringing down the Iranian leadership.
The chief of staff of Iran’s armed forces, Major General Ali Abdollahi, said the 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,” he was quoted as saying by Iranian media, in a Reuters report carried by the Daily Mirror.
What Washington has said
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC on Thursday that the United States would apply the “toughest sanctions in history”. “It is a one-two punch. We have the blockade, and we are going to have the toughest sanctions in history,” he said, referring to the naval blockade imposed in April and paused for a month in mid-June. “It is going to work in Iran, and we are going to collapse this regime.”
Bessent also warned other governments they could face penalties for continuing to trade with Tehran. “We’re going to them and saying: You’re either with us or against us,” he told the broadcaster. He said he would set out details at a press conference on Monday.
His remarks followed Trump’s warning, reported earlier this week, of consequences for any country providing “any type of lifeline” to Iran. Al Jazeera noted it remains unclear whether the measures would be applied to major economies such as China.
Tehran’s position
Iran’s foreign ministry condemned the sanctions as “economic terrorism” that would not create “even the slightest hesitation” in Iranians’ resolve.
Parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Tehran’s main negotiator in mediated talks with Washington, said the United States appeared to have concluded it could not prevail militarily. “We must make plans to deal with the unjust sanctions so that we can overcome them,” he said during a visit to Iraq, accusing the US and Israel of waging economic and “cognitive” warfare.
Oil and the impact on Sri Lanka
Oil steadied on Friday but was on course for a second consecutive weekly rise, after hitting a three-week high on Thursday. Bessent played down the link, saying maximum economic pressure made a “large-scale kinetic restart” of the fighting less likely.
Iran’s curbs on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz — which carried about a fifth of all traded oil before February — have stranded millions of barrels of Middle Eastern crude. Sri Lanka imports effectively all of its fuel, and the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation has already flagged concern over rising global diesel prices.
