Iran has warned that a new round of U.S. sanctions expected to be announced Monday will not bring peace to the region, while threatening a strong response against Washington and countries Tehran believes are cooperating with the sanctions.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said Tehran would respond to any expansion of U.S. sanctions, warning that further escalation would have consequences.
“Any escalation of this situation will undoubtedly bring about consequences,” Baghaei said, adding that Iran’s “hands are not tied.”
The warning came after the head of Iran’s top security body said Sunday that Tehran would consider any country supporting the new sanctions an “act of war,” raising the stakes ahead of Washington’s expected announcement.
The expanded sanctions come after weeks of deadlock between Iran and the United States, with Washington still unable to dislodge Tehran’s control over the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global oil shipping route through which about a fifth of the world’s traded oil passed before the war began nearly six months ago.
Iran has demanded the lifting of the U.S. naval blockade, the withdrawal of American forces from the region and compensation for damages sustained during the war as conditions for reopening the strait.
Tehran has also held separate talks with Oman, located across the Strait of Hormuz, over the possibility of jointly managing the waterway, regardless of whether a new agreement is reached with Washington.
Although U.S. sanctions have historically contributed to higher prices for basic goods in Iran, the Iranian economy has adapted over decades by developing domestic industries and establishing alternative trading partnerships.
Nevertheless, Iran’s currency fell to a record low on Monday ahead of the expected U.S. sanctions announcement, underscoring the economic pressure facing Tehran.
The Iranian warning comes as tensions continue across the wider Middle East, with Israeli and Syrian officials meeting in Jordan following an Israeli strike in northern Syria, while Israel said it had killed another Hamas militant in Gaza.
In the West Bank, meanwhile, a Palestinian American homeowner said he remains unable to move freely around his home in Qusra after Israeli settlers surrounded his residence earlier this month, prompting condemnation from Israeli rights groups and foreign officials, including U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee.
