Either with us or against us: US warns of ‘economic D-Day’; Iran calls threats ‘desperate’

US-Iran war: The US has made clear that any country that helps Washington in its war against Iran will be rewarded, while anyone who still stands with Tehran will face devastating consequences. This comes ahead of US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s Monday conference. Bessent in an opinion piece for Financial Times on Sunday threatened countries that they believe are still trading with Iran.

“Those who sever Iran’s remaining financial and commercial connectivity will reinvigorate their own. They will deepen their access to global capital, reinforce confidence in their markets and attain the standing they seek in the world economy. The alternative for those who tether themselves to Tehran is the foreclosure of any path to lasting prosperity,” he wrote, adding that any country that serves as a “financial artery of a withering regime should expect to share in its isolation”. Bessent said becoming a sanctuary for terror will turn these countries into a global pariah.

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IRAN RESPONDS 

Iran called US’ threats ‘desperate’ and issued its own threats. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said in a video posted on ​Telegram,  "The fact that they have moved on from military operations...to bring up the same old plans shows that they are desperate." He asked Washington to speak to Tehran respectfully to find a solution based on justice and honour. "We have never been afraid. All of their actions - whether blockades or other military moves they have made - have failed, and this new issue of theirs will fail as well," he said.

Separately, Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council said, "If the economic war continues, not a single drop of ‌oil will ⁠be exported, neither through the Strait of Hormuz nor from anywhere in the Persian Gulf. Iran will regard any country’s participation in or support for America’s economic war against the Iranian people as an act of war."

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ECONOMIC D-DAY 

Bessent threatened an economic D-Day on Iran, calling it “the single greatest financial offensive ever marshalled against an adversary”.

Bessent said Trump has decimated Iran’s economy, rial has become very weak, and their inflation is sky-high. He accused “Iran’s enablers” of purchasing and transporting its petroleum, facilitating the flow of its finances, welcoming Iran’s flights, and turning a blind eye to seaborne fuel transfers. “In short, these countries calculate appeasement of the regime to be the safer course. But they would do well to consider the consequences of sustaining it,” wrote Bessent.

He said Trump will ensure that not another generation of Americans will be “condemned to the menace of fanatics”.

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“The president has created the conditions to leverage every agency, every authority and action many assumed we would never summon. Any remaining tie to Tehran will hasten the economic ostracism of countries and entities, whether that tie be purposefully constructed or wilfully ignored,” he wrote in the financial daily.