CAIRO / WASHINGTON: The United States and Iran on Saturday exchanged defiant messages ahead of Monday’s scheduled announcement of new US economic sanctions that could impact the Islamic Republic and Tehran’s key trading partners including China.

As the war neared six months old, the two sides were not exchanging fire but also not pursuing peace talks.

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said the imminent US announcement of new economic sanctions on Iran was an “assertion of extraterritorial sovereignty over every independent member state of the UN”.

“Such secondary sanctions find no foundation in international law,” he said in a post on X.

Iran’s supreme national security council chief Mohsen Rezai warned countries against joining the US “economic war” against Iran, or else they would be considered enemies.

Ghalibaf says neighbours sent messages on shaping regional security arrangements

US President Donald Trump, while speaking at an event, said he viewed “the Strait of Hormuz as an American territory right now” and that Iran “would love to make a deal, but they’re not ready to make the right deal in my opinion”.

Iran, on the other hand, has granted permission for a number of Iraqi oil tankers to pass through the Strait following repeated requests from Baghdad.

Meanwhile, Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said Tehran has received messages from neighbouring nations about “shaping new security commitments and economic cooperation in the region”.

“The US put the security of every single one of its allies at such risk through bullying and pure disregard for their interests for the sake of Isr­ael that they briefly saw their entire existence on the line,” he wrote on X.

He noted a “homegrown, independent” security order will guarantee peace and security in ME.

Published in Dawn, August 23rd, 2026