Μake us preferred on Google Pakistan’s army chief, Asim Munir, traveled to Tehran on Monday in an attempt to restart mediation efforts, just as the United States prepared to launch what officials are calling “the greatest financial offensive ever” aimed at countries doing business with Iran.
Iran brushed off the threat, warning it would halt all oil exports from the Gulf “if the economic war continues.” Tehran also issued a fresh warning to ships not to pass through the Strait of Hormuz without permission, naming 45 vessels it accused of violating its rules and threatening retaliation against any ship-to-ship transfers involving them.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is expected to unveil tough new measures against Iran, a country that has faced near-constant sanctions since its 1979 revolution, during a press conference Monday afternoon. In a Financial Times opinion piece published Sunday, Bessent wrote that an “economic D-Day” was about to begin, calling it the largest financial offensive ever assembled against an adversary.
Munir, who has cultivated a personal relationship with President Trump, arrived in Iran for talks that Pakistan described as part of efforts to support regional peace and stability. A Pakistani source said he was expected to meet with figures close to Iran’s supreme leader. Two Pakistani sources said Trump called Munir last week, with one saying the main ask was to help bring Iran back to the negotiating table. The White House did not immediately comment.
While the US and Iran haven’t struck each other’s militaries directly in weeks, their last formal talks to end the six-month conflict were in June, and attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz have continued. Separately, a projectile struck a tanker off the Saudi port of Yanbu in the Red Sea on Monday, sparking a fire on deck, according to UK maritime security monitors, who did not identify the source of the strike. Iran-aligned Houthi forces said last month they would target Saudi oil shipments rerouted through the Red Sea to avoid Hormuz.
Thousands have died, mostly in Iran and Lebanon, since the US and Israel began strikes on February 28, an offensive that degraded much of Iran’s conventional military and killed then-Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Despite the losses, Iran has retained enough missile and drone capability to strike its Gulf neighbors and choke shipping through Hormuz, driving up global fuel prices. The current status of Iran’s nuclear program remains unclear.
Oil prices dipped Monday as investors locked in gains from the past two weeks ahead of the expected US sanctions announcement. Without naming specific targets, Bessent indicated the US would go after what he called “fearful nations” engaging with Iran’s economy through appeasement, warning them to weigh the consequences of continuing to do so.
Iran has spent days bracing for the sanctions, issuing statements that hint at a significant response. Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, suggested economic retaliation Sunday, writing on social media that not a single drop of oil would be exported through Hormuz or anywhere in the Persian Gulf if the economic war continues, and that Iran would treat any country’s cooperation with the US economic campaign as an act of war.
China, historically the top buyer of Iranian oil, has pushed back on Bessent’s earlier call for cooperation. Beijing’s foreign ministry said sanctions and pressure don’t solve problems and that China would act to protect its own interests, even as a US blockade of Iranian ports renewed in mid-July has already reduced oil flows to China.
Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi dismissed Washington’s latest moves, arguing that past US claims about toppling the Iranian government have repeatedly failed to materialize. Still, Iranian officials speaking to Reuters privately expressed concern that further economic pressure could deepen hardship, revive unrest and further weaken the government’s legitimacy.
Iran entered the war already dealing with high inflation, energy shortages and deep economic weaknesses, and now also faces disrupted trade, lost production and the cost of rebuilding damaged infrastructure. The rial, whose earlier slide sparked violently suppressed protests in January, hit a new record low Monday, down 25% from where it stood in January.
