Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said Saturday that the United States' new sanctions plan is more than "continued unlawful economic warfare" against one country. He called it "an assertion of extraterritorial sovereignty over every independent Member State of the United Nations." That’s the language of a state describing another state’s grip as it tightens, with ordinary people left to absorb the damage while officials trade threats and press releases.
Who Holds the Levers
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC on Thursday that the Trump administration's plan to crush Iran's economy will likely negate the need for major U.S. military operations against the Islamic Republic. He vowed the U.S. will create "the greatest coordinated economic isolation in the history of the world" against Iran and said he would hold a news conference on Monday to "talk about exactly what we're going to do." In a preview of the plan, he said the U.S. would be telling all of its allies, "You are either with us or against us." That’s not diplomacy. It’s coercion with a flag on it.
Vice President JD Vance said economic pressure is the United States' "most effective tool" against Iran. Speaking on a podcast, Vance called it "a delicate dance" as both sides apply pressure to each other, but added that "what has been true over the last couple of weeks is they felt a lot more pressure than we have." The people who pay for that pressure don’t get a seat at the table. They get the bill.
Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf told an event in Baghdad on Friday that Muslim countries must make a plan to overcome "cruel" sanctions, according to a government summary of his comments. The appeal points to the obvious: when the big powers squeeze, the damage spreads far beyond the officials doing the talking.
What the War Economy Looks Like
U.S. President Donald Trump said the U.S. will launch what he called the "most crushing economic operation ever taken against any country" against Iran. He also threatened severe financial penalties on any nation that helps Tehran evade sanctions, and added that "this will be Economic Warfare and Isolation on an unprecedented scale." The language is blunt because the aim is blunt. Starve the economy, isolate the country, and make compliance look like the only exit.
Shipping through the economically crucial Strait of Hormuz remains a fraction of its levels before the U.S. launched its war against Iran on Feb. 28. Negotiations to reopen the strait have stalled. Recently observed ship traffic through Hormuz has remained low, with 10 crossings on Monday and two transits on Sunday, according to data provided by the trade intelligence firm Kpler. Oil prices were little changed Friday after Iran’s president indicated that Tehran wants the war with the U.S. to end sooner rather than later. Brent crude futures added 61 cents to close at $94.39 per barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures rose 23 cents to $87.06. Oil prices finished the week more than 5% higher after Bessent's comments.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian described his country's memorandum of understanding with the U.S. signed on June 17 as a victory for the Islamic Republic. Pezeshkian said "it is better to end the war today" when Iran is "in a position of power and dignity," according to the state news agency PressTV. The MOU allowed Tehran to determine how the Strait of Hormuz would be administered through negotiations with Oman and the other Gulf states. Even here, the language of sovereignty runs through a corridor of bargaining, fees, and control over a waterway that matters to global oil, natural gas and other supplies.
Regional Powers, Local Costs
The new leader of Iran’s top security body threatened Tehran’s neighbors against joining the new U.S. effort to hurt Iran’s economy and accused the United States of increasing global nuclear insecurity with months of war. "If (Trump) wants to do something, we will retaliate in a seismic manner," he said in an interview with the state broadcaster that aired Saturday. Mohsen Rezaei was named this month as part of senior appointments widely seen as hardening Tehran’s political and military stance. His interview with IRIB was his most extensive public statement since then.
Rezaei said Iran would target oil-shipping routes out of the Persian Gulf — alternatives to the Strait of Hormuz — if neighbors join what he described as the economic war against Iran. Those neighbors would be considered enemies and "we will target their interests," he said. He also said discussions with Oman over management of the strait were ongoing, and said fees would be imposed. Iran asserted control over what was seen as an international waterway shortly after the U.S. and Israel attacked on Feb. 28. Rezaei also vowed to make changes to Iran’s diplomacy and bring new capabilities to what he called the next war. He warned the U.S. against sending more military personnel to the region, and said the U.S. had increased nuclear insecurity because countries see that participating in international monitoring efforts, as Iran has done, is no protection against attack.
The top diplomats for Egypt and Iran discussed efforts to bring Tehran and Washington back to the negotiating table to settle the war, Egypt’s foreign ministry said. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Egyptian counterpart Badr Abdelatty also discussed the Iranian-Omani talks, the ministry said. Araghchi briefed Egypt’s foreign minister about "Iran’s view of ongoing developments, the course of negotiations and their challenges," the ministry said, without elaborating. Araghchi confirmed the call. Separately, Araghchi said he had a call with Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir.
The governments of Iraq and Iran said Tehran has helped some ships carrying Iraqi oil to transit the Strait of Hormuz, but there were few details. "There is facilitation for some ships carrying Iraqi oil in the Strait of Hormuz," Iraqi President Nizar Amidi said in comments published Saturday by the state-run news agency, adding that Iraq doesn’t have a national carrier for transporting oil. Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency said a number of Iraqi oil tankers have been permitted to transit. It was not clear how many or what Iran might have received in return.
An Israeli drone strike on a vehicle wounded one person on Saturday in the southwestern Syrian village of Beit Jin, according to the Syrian state news agency SANA. Syria’s foreign ministry said several civilians were injured and called the strike a flagrant violation of the country’s sovereignty. The Israeli military said it targeted a "terrorist who advanced terror attacks in final stages of preparation," without elaborating. It wasn’t immediately clear if it was the same strike. Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes around Syria after the ouster of former President Bashar Assad in late 2024, mainly destroying army assets to keep them out of the hands of his successors.
In an interview on Friday with Mario Nawfal, a Lebanese-Australian entrepreneur, U.S. Ambassador Tom Barrack said Israel "still" occupies the Golan Heights in violation of U.N. resolutions. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz on Saturday in a statement called Barrack’s remarks "full of inaccuracies and positions that contradict Trump’s own position." Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 war and annexed it in 1981. The U.N. considers the territory occupied Syrian land. But in March 2019, Trump signed a proclamation recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, reversing decades of U.S. policy.
French President Emmanuel Macron and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman are expected to discuss plans to develop alternatives routes to the Strait of Hormuz during the Saudi leader’s two-day visit to Paris that starts on Sunday, according to officials in the presidency who weren’t authorized to be publicly named. Proposals include increasing trade through Omani ports outside of the Persian Gulf, expanding or doubling pipelines in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere, and developing new rail links, the officials said. France and Saudi Arabia have formed a task force on energy and logistics connections between the Middle East and Europe that is scheduled to meet at the ministerial level Monday. The officials said the work would focus on identifying the most strategic projects, securing financing and establishing roles for French companies.