Iranian minister says US Treasury chief's claim of economic pressure 'lacks rational logic'

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Iran’s Minister of Industry, Mines and Trade Mohammad Atabak has mocked US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s claims that the US can “sever” the country’s economic lifeline, saying that Bessent’s claim “lacks rational logic”, state news agency IRNA reports.

Atabak says Bessent made similar statements in the early days of the US-Israeli 12-day war on Iran last year, and that the US Treasury chief predicted Iran’s economic collapse within less than two days.

“The remarks made by the American official against Iran lack any rational logic, Atabak says, arguing that Bessent’s words “are not without bias, since the US is an adversary, and such claims do not merit serious attention”.

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