• US president threatens severe penalties for any nation providing a lifeline to Tehran
• Iranian officials dismiss the economic threats as ‘failed policy’
• Houthis launch drone attacks on Saudi oil facilities
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump pledged an escalated campaign of economic warfare against Iran and threatened severe penalties for any nation that trades with Tehran, drawing a swift rebuke from Iranian officials who dismissed the move as a continuation of failed American policies.
The exchange comes as the war between the two countries, which began alongside Israel nearly six months ago, appears deadlocked.
Peace talks remain stalled, Iran has kept the strategic Strait of Hormuz largely shut, and Washington has persisted with a naval counter-blockade against Iranian ports.
Under mounting domestic pressure over the economic fallout of the conflict, Trump took to Truth Social to announce what he described as “the MOST CRUSHING ECONOMIC OPERATION EVER TAKEN AGAINST ANY COUNTRY! This will be economic warfare and isolation on an unprecedented scale.”
“ANY country that allows its financial institutions, businesses, airports, or government entities to provide any type of lifeline to Iran will itself face TREMENDOUS economic consequences,” Trump said.
In a call to action, the President urged US allies to implement tighter restrictions on Tehran, aiming to “cripple them and their
ability to project terror worldwide”.
He described this strategy as an “economic D-Day”, drawing a parallel to the Allied landings on June 6, 1944, in Normandy, France, a pivotal moment against Nazi Germany.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent echoed this sentiment, declaring the US’ intent to exert “maximum economic pressure” on Iran.
He described it as a “one-two punch”, with both a blockade and the promise of the most severe sanctions in history. “It is going to work in Iran,” Bessent asserted in an interview with CNBC, “and we are going to collapse this regime.”
Trump listed several practices he said must cease immediately, including oil smuggling, swap lines, cash transfers, exchange houses, ship registries, and front companies. The threats appeared aimed at halting Iran’s maritime commerce, which relies on a sanctions-evading shadow fleet of tankers.
However, Iranian representatives dismissed Trump’s ominous warnings, highlighting instead the economic pressure the conflict has exerted on the US. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called the measures an ineffective distraction, while Iran’s foreign ministry condemned the move as a ‘crime against humanity’.
“The so-called ‘Economic D-Day’ is a diversion from America’s own crisis: unprecedented debt and surging interest costs. Doubling down on failed policies will only bring further defeat — and enmity of Iranians,” Araghchi posted on X, adding that “US economic terrorism threatens global economy and sovereignty worldwide”.
Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi highlighted the irony in claims of Iran being on the verge of collapse, pointing out that the US is simultaneously appealing to its allies for support.
“They claim Iran is on the brink of collapse and hanging by a thread, yet they beg all their allies to help them! The problem is the wrong calculations that, each time to cover them up, they’re forced to create a bigger failure for themselves,” he said on X on Thursday. “The military war didn’t yield results, so now they’ve named the next failure economic war.”
Certain Iranian officials are advocating for a decisive pivot away from the nation’s international nuclear agreements. Ebrahim Rezaei, a member of the Iranian parliament, has proposed that Iran’s most effective answer to what he terms an “economic war” launched by President Trump is to step back from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
In other parts, the conflict has widened in Yemen, reigniting tensions between the Houthi movement and Saudi Arabia. On Thursday, Yemen’s Houthis said they launched two drone attacks on Saudi Arabia targeting Najran airport and an Aramco facility, according to Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree. Saudi officials did not immediately confirm the strikes.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warned Riyadh that it cannot stop Houthi military operations.
“Saudi Arabia will certainly be unable to contain Yemen and Ansarullah or remain safe from their attacks,” Guards spokesman Hossein Mohebi told Defa Press. “As we have seen in recent days, the more Saudi Arabia attacks, the more it is hit in return.”
Yemeni officials warned this week that Houthi forces are attempting to advance south to seize territory along the Bab el-Mandeb strait, threatening another critical maritime corridor.
Commercial shipping remains sharply constrained across the region. According to shiptracking data from analytics firm Kpler, commodity vessel transits through the Strait of Hormuz stood at nine on Wednesday, unchanged from the previous day.
Traffic through the Bab el-Mandeb strait dropped to 27 commodity vessels on Wednesday, down from 32 on Tuesday.
The escalating dispute has heightened tensions with international partners. China, which purchases more than 80 per cent of Iranian crude according to Kpler data, urged restraint. “Sanctions and pressure will not solve the problem,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said during a regular press briefing. “China calls on all parties concerned to take responsible measures to resolve the issue through political and diplomatic means.”
Published in Dawn, August 21st, 2026
