Iran Pledges to Defy Trump’s Economic Sanctions

Iran’s Foreign Ministry announced on Monday that Tehran would not yield to the intensifying pressure campaign launched by the Trump administration, following a warning from one of the nation’s senior security officials that countries assisting the United States in its “economic war” would face retaliation.

These statements from Iranian officials preceded the announcement of fresh measures aimed at isolating Iran’s economy, which Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was slated to unveil on Monday afternoon. The Trump administration has shifted to a strategy of gradually undermining Iran’s economy after more than six months of intermittent conflict failed to compel Tehran to accept U.S. conditions.

Esmaeil Baghaei, spokesperson for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, said on Monday that the Trump administration was simply “repeating tactics that have previously proven ineffective.”

“Iran will employ all multilateral avenues to counter the economic sanctions,” he told reporters at a press conference, adding that ordinary Iranian citizens would bear the brunt of U.S. sanctions.

President Trump had pledged that the war he launched together with Israel in late February would be swift and decisive, yet the conflict has persisted with no clear resolution. A cease‑fire agreed upon in June collapsed within weeks after Iran reinstated its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, the vital Persian Gulf channel for oil and gas exports.

Now, President Trump has warned that Iran faces “economic warfare and isolation on an unprecedented scale,” and has cautioned that any nation conducting business with Iran would incur severe penalties. Iran’s primary trading partners are China, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates.

Analysts argue that Iran is more inclined to respond militarily to heightened U.S. economic pressure than to comply with President Trump’s demands to curb its nuclear program and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Moreover, many experts doubt that Trump will impose significant penalties on China, whose leader Xi Jinping is scheduled to visit Washington next month.

Western sanctions have exerted pressure on Iran for years, contributing to inflation, unemployment, and other economic hardships that spurred widespread protests earlier this year. Nevertheless, Iran’s leadership has remained resolute, responding to the recent unrest with a severe and deadly crackdown that resulted in thousands of demonstrator fatalities, according to exile-based Iranian human‑rights organizations.

On Sunday night, senior Iranian official Mohsen Rezaei warned that Iran could retaliate against U.S. allies in the Persian Gulf in response to economic pressure. He added on social media that, if the U.S.-led campaign persisted, “not a single drop of oil will be exported” from the region.

“Iran will consider any nation’s participation in, or support for, America’s economic war against its people as an act of war,” Mr. Rezaei, head of Iran’s powerful Supreme National Security Council, stated.

Gulf Arab states have shouldered the majority of Iran’s retaliatory actions following the U.S.-Israeli campaign. Iran has conducted drone and missile strikes against American bases located in those countries and has effectively blockaded oil and gas exports through the Strait of Hormuz.

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