Tehran warns of devastating action in response to Trump’s threat

The United States has threatened to impose the toughest economic sanctions in history to pressure Iran's current leadership. In response to this, Iran said on Friday that it would take "devastating" action in response to any new US threat.

The news agency Reuters reported that the United States is preparing sanctions. US Treasury Secretary Scott Besant said that he would release detailed information on this on Monday. Earlier, President Donald Trump warned that countries that provide "any kind of economic assistance or lifeline to Iran" will face economic consequences.

Major General Ali Abdollahi, Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, said that the Islamic Republic's response will be comprehensive and decisive. According to Iranian media, Abdollahi said, “With full readiness in all areas – land, sea, air, air defense and cyber – the Iranian armed forces will give a harsh and devastating response to the enemy’s new threats, which will be the ultimate punishment for them.”

In the mediation talks with the United States, Iran’s chief negotiator and speaker of the country’s parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said that Washington has probably concluded that it cannot win in a direct military conflict. “We need to adopt a plan to deal with unjust sanctions so that we can overcome them,” he said while in neighboring Iraq. At that time, he accused the United States and Israel of waging economic and so-called “cognitive” (psychological) warfare.

Oil prices, which recently fell slightly, started to rise again on Thursday due to the threat of new US sanctions. “It’s not clear to me exactly what caused the price of oil to rise,” Besant told CNBC. “If we follow the policy of maximum economic pressure, it means that there is less chance of a major incident like a military conflict or direct military action happening again.”

The British news agency wrote that thousands of people have lost their lives in the war. The war has drawn Gulf countries into the fray and has driven up fuel prices on global markets. This is because Iran has attacked ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz, which carried about a fifth of world oil trade before February 28. According to ship tracking company Kepler, only seven cargo ships passed through the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, half the number the previous day. Before the war, more than 130 ships used to pass through the route every day.

Besant told CNBC that he would “deliver details on exactly what we will do” on Iran at a press conference on Monday. “We will bring down this regime,” he said. “It’s time for our allies and the rest of the world to make a decision,” he said, calling the reimposition of the naval blockade on Iran in July and the “toughest sanctions in history” a “one-two punch.”

Trump’s negative impact on the United States

Amid the ongoing conflict with Tehran, US President Donald Trump has threatened a devastating economic campaign against Iran. He called it an “economic D-Day.” However, on Thursday, the US market was the first to fall victim.

Al Jazeera reported that the price of crude oil rose slightly from $86.20 a barrel to $86.70 on Wednesday, while US stocks suffered their biggest drop in three weeks. At the same time, the United States announced that its total debt exceeded a record $40 trillion this week.