- Adversaries engaged in war of words over new US sanctions.
- US Treasury secretary to target Iran’s trading partners.
- Senior Iranian official says “not a drop” of oil will flow.
Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) and Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir is due to visit Tehran on Monday as the United States prepares to roll out what it calls “the greatest financial offensive ever marshalled” against Iran, while Tehran has vowed to shut down all oil exports from the Gulf “if the economic war continues.”
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will hold a press conference at 2pm EDT (1800 GMT) on Monday amid promises to reveal even more severe measures on a country that has endured near-continuous economic sanctions since the Islamic Revolution of 1979.
Iran said Munir’s visit would be part of efforts to restore peace and security in the region, while a Pakistani government source said he would discuss recent developments, including the US threat of new sanctions.
The Shehbaz Sharif-led government brokered a two-week ceasefire between the two sides on April 8 that ended six weeks of fighting and continues to relay messages between Washington and Tehran.
Two Pakistani government sources confirmed Munir’s visit to Reuters. The first source said that Iran and Pakistan were in direct contact.
A second source said the talks would also address recent developments in the conflict, including US President Donald Trump’s threat of tougher sanctions on Iran.
“He [CDF Munir] will discuss peace under Islamabad’s MoU, Trump’s warning and the situation after the Pakistan-Turkiye-Saudi Arab Agreement and Houthi issues with Iranian leaders,” the source said.
The visit comes amid heightened tensions as Iran threatens a military response to US plans for sanctions that could further put a strain on the Islamic Republic’s ailing economy.
“At dawn begins an economic D-Day — the single greatest financial offensive ever marshalled against an adversary,” Bessent wrote in an opinion piece published in the Financial Times on Sunday.
Thousands of people have died, most of them in Iran and Lebanon, since the US and Israel began strikes on February 28, degrading much of Iran’s conventional military capacity and inflicting economic pain while killing Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
But Iran has preserved enough missile and drone capability to attack its Gulf neighbours and threaten oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, bringing shipping in the key waterway to a near standstill and pressuring world fuel prices. The exact state of Iran’s nuclear programme, which the Americans and Israelis aim to wipe out, remains unknown.
Without detailing specific measures, Bessent signalled the US would target “fearful nations” that practice “appeasement” by engaging with Iran’s economy and financial system.
“They would do well to consider the consequences of sustaining it,” he wrote in the Financial Times.
Iran has been bracing for the sanctions for days, issuing a series of strongly worded statements suggesting it planned a major military response.
Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, on Sunday suggested economic retaliation.
“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,” Rezaei wrote in a social media post. “Iran will regard any country’s participation in or support for America’s economic war against the Iranian people as an act of war.”
Bessent previously urged China to cooperate with the US, noting China receives half of its oil imports from the Gulf region. A spokesperson for China’s embassy in Washington responded with a statement that “sanctions and pressure do not help resolve the problem,” while calling for diplomacy.
Iran’s economy was already under pressure from international sanctions before the US and Israeli attacks destroyed parts of its infrastructure.
Though Tehran remains outwardly defiant, Iranian officials have warned that further economic punishment could increase hardships, reignite unrest and further erode the Islamic Republic’s legitimacy.
Iran entered the war with high inflation, a weakening currency, energy shortages, sanctions and deep structural weaknesses, and must now contend with damaged infrastructure, disrupted trade, lost production and the cost of rebuilding.
In the absence of official face-to-face talks between the US and Iran, which were last conducted in June in Switzerland, other nations, including Qatar, Pakistan, and Turkiye, have attempted to promote diplomacy.
US-Israeli strikes on Iran and Israeli attacks on Lebanon during the war have killed thousands and displaced millions. The US reported 18 military personnel killed and more than 750 wounded.
