IRAN has condemned impending US sanctions that could further damage its battered economy and put pressure on key trading partners, particularly China, as tensions between Washington and Tehran remain high nearly six months after the outbreak of war.
The United States is preparing what Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has described as the “toughest sanctions in history” against Iran, with the measures expected to target countries and companies that continue doing business with Tehran.
Reuters reported that Bessent is due to hold a news conference on Monday to announce the measures, while Washington has urged China to cooperate with its efforts to isolate Iran economically.
China is particularly exposed to the move as it accounts for more than 80% of Iran’s seaborne oil exports, according to 2025 data from analytics firm Kpler.
Beijing has called for diplomacy, while Iran has rejected the US threat to impose secondary sanctions on countries that continue trading with it.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said the planned measures amounted to an attempt by Washington to impose its authority beyond its borders.
“Such secondary sanctions find no foundation in international law,” he said in a post on X.
Iranian officials have also warned neighbouring countries against assisting the US campaign.
Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said Tehran would regard countries that helped Washington’s economic campaign as enemies.
“We are telling all nearby countries not to join the U.S. economic war, otherwise we will consider them as enemies,” he told Iranian state television.
US President Donald Trump, meanwhile, has warned that countries providing Iran with “any type of lifeline” could face economic consequences.
“They would love to make a deal, but they're not ready to make the right deal, in my opinion,” Trump said on Friday.
The escalating economic confrontation comes as commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has virtually ground to a halt, threatening global energy supplies and adding upward pressure to oil prices.
Only four commodity ships crossed the strategic waterway on Thursday, according to ship-tracking data, with none being large crude carriers or liquefied natural gas tankers.
Iran has, however, allowed a number of Iraqi oil tankers to pass through the strait following repeated requests from Baghdad, according to Iran’s state news agency IRNA.
The permission was reportedly among Baghdad’s main requests during a recent visit to Iraq by Iranian Parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf.
The disruption to Hormuz traffic is particularly significant because the waterway normally carries more than 20 million barrels of oil a day, equivalent to about one-fifth of global oil consumption.
US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said the US military had helped facilitate the movement of a seven-day average of about eight million barrels of oil a day through the strait, although that remains sharply below pre-war levels.
The prolonged conflict has inflicted severe damage on Iran’s economy and military capabilities, but Tehran retains sufficient missile and drone capacity to disrupt tanker movements and threaten regional rivals.
Iranian military leaders have sought to project confidence despite the economic and military toll.
Armed forces chief of staff Abdollahi, during a visit to an underground ballistic missile production facility, said Iran had improved its ability to manufacture weapons.
“This plant has been able, much better than in the past, to produce equipment superior both in capacities and quality and in quantity,” he said, according to Iranian state television.
Qalibaf also said Iran had received “numerous messages” from neighbouring countries proposing new regional security arrangements and economic cooperation, although he did not identify the countries involved.
He accused Washington of undermining the security of its own regional allies in pursuit of Israel’s interests, arguing that a homegrown regional security structure would provide greater stability.
Despite Tehran’s defiant rhetoric, there are also signs that Iran’s leadership recognises the mounting costs of the conflict.
President Masoud Pezeshkian has called for a diplomatic solution, saying it would be better to end the war while Iran could still claim strength and dignity.
“It would be better to end the war today, when we are powerful and have dignity, and the whole world acknowledges our victory,” he was quoted as saying by ISNA on Friday.
The war, which began with US and Israeli airstrikes against Iran on February 28, has killed thousands of people, mainly in Iran. Among those killed were 168 Iranian schoolchildren on the first day of the conflict.
The United States has reported more than 750 military personnel wounded and 18 killed.
Washington has yet to achieve some of the objectives President Trump set at the beginning of the conflict, including dismantling Iran’s nuclear programme and creating conditions for the overthrow of the country’s clerical leadership.
The status of Iran’s nuclear programme remains uncertain, with UN inspectors unable to access the country since 2025.
With the Strait of Hormuz largely paralysed and Washington preparing a new round of sanctions, the confrontation now risks extending well beyond Iran and the United States — placing China and the global energy market increasingly in the line of fire. - August 23, 2026
