Iran has issued a fresh warning to the United States, saying it could stop oil exports through the Strait of Hormuz and other parts of the Persian Gulf if Washington continues its economic pressure campaign against Tehran.
Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, made the warning on Monday as tensions between Tehran and Washington continued to rise over tougher US economic measures against Iran.
In a post on X, Rezaei said Iran could take the drastic step of halting oil shipments if the economic pressure does not stop. He also warned countries that assist or participate in the US campaign that Tehran could consider their involvement an “act of war”.
“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,” Rezaei said.
The Strait of Hormuz is a crucial global energy route through which large volumes of oil and other energy supplies are transported. Any disruption to shipments through the waterway could therefore have wider consequences for international energy markets.
Iran Steps Up Rhetoric Against US Economic Pressure
Rezaei’s warning came shortly after Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf mocked the latest US economic pressure on Tehran.
Ghalibaf used a sarcastic post on X to argue that Washington’s strategy could eventually have consequences for the country imposing the restrictions. He accompanied his remarks with a cartoon depicting an economic “boomerang” returning to hit the person who threw it.
Ghalibaf also questioned whether short-term measures could solve deeper economic problems, using references to frozen imports, wages, housing and foreign policy to criticise the US approach.
Meanwhile, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps spokesperson Sardar Mohebi accused Washington of relying heavily on economic pressure because of what he described as a failure on the military front.
“The US President says that he has ordered economic warfare and has launched the most severe economic war against Iran. This is a tacit admission of the enemy’s humiliating defeat in the military arena,” Mohebi said, according to IRIB.
Mohebi added that Iran had dealt with economic restrictions for years and would seek ways to reduce their impact.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei has also criticised the US sanctions threat. According to Al Jazeera, Baghaei said that war and sanctions were “not unfamiliar” to Iran, pointing to the long period during which the country has faced international restrictions.
The latest statements indicate that tensions between Tehran and Washington are intensifying, with Iran now openly linking the continuation of US economic pressure to possible disruption of oil exports from the Persian Gulf.
