DUBAI/WASHINGTON >> Iran said today that its response to any new U.S. threats would be “devastating” after Washington pledged to impose the toughest financial penalties in history with the aim of toppling the Iranian leadership.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he would give details on Monday of the planned sanctions, after President Donald Trump warned of economic consequences against any country that provided “any type of lifeline to Iran.”

The chief of staff of Iran’s Armed Forces, Major General Ali Abdollahi, said the Islamic Republic’s reaction would be broad and decisive.

“With preparedness across land, sea, air, air defence and cyberspace, Iran’s armed forces will respond to the enemy’s new threats with crushing, punishing and devastating responses,” Abdollahi said.

Iranian leaders and Trump alike have issued triumphant and threatening statements even as each side has yet to prevail in the war that the U.S. and Israel started nearly six months ago.

The conflict has killed thousands of people while drawing in other Gulf nations and pushing up global fuel prices.

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U.S. attacks have severely diminished Iran’s economy and its conventional forces, but Tehran maintains enough missile and drone capability to impede oil tanker traffic in the Strait of Hormuz and attack regional rivals.

Trump has yet to achieve objectives he set at the start of the war, such as dismantling Iran’s nuclear program and creating conditions for Iranians to overthrow their clerical rulers.

The war has driven up gas prices and weighed heavily on his popularity, which fell to the lowest point in his current term in a Reuters/Ipsos poll this week.

Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, the country’s main negotiator in mediated talks with the U.S., said Washington appeared to have concluded it could not prevail in its direct military confrontation.

“We must make plans to deal with the unjust sanctions so that we can overcome them,” Qalibaf said in neighboring Iraq.

Speaking to Iranian and Iraqi business leaders late yesterday, Qalibaf acknowledged the strain on Iran’s economy.

“No matter how much military power we have, we won’t survive if people are hungry and we don’t have financial turnover, economic growth and national production,” Qalibaf said.

International and U.S. crude oil futures rose today after the U.S. threatened economic sanctions on Iran’s trading partners, raising expectations of tighter supply in the coming weeks.

Bessent said he would provide details on the new sanctions at a news conference on Monday, adding that the goal was to collapse the regime.

Iran has weathered near-continuous economic sanctions for nearly 50 years, since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, but its people face high inflation, a weakening currency and energy shortages along with damaged infrastructure.

Tighter sanctions could have wider international implications.

Bessent said China obtained half its energy from the Gulf, so it would make sense for Beijing to cooperate.

China buys more than 80% of Iran’s shipped oil, according to data from analytics firm Kpler, but further U.S. economic warfare with Beijing risks retaliation.

China’s embassy in Washington said sanctions and pressure do not help resolve the problem, calling instead for diplomacy.

There are other risks, especially to U.S. allies in the Gulf, some of whose energy facilities and desalination plants have come under Iranian attack.

The U.S. and Iran have twice announced ceasefire deals, in April and June, aiming to restore the free flow of ships through the Strait of Hormuz.

Prior to February, the narrow waterway carried about a fifth of all traded oil globally.

Iran and Oman have been in separate talks with a stated purpose to resume navigation, but the U.S. has opposed any deal that would impose a toll on ships.

NATO’s top commander, U.S. Air Force General Alexus Grynkewich, convened a videoconference of allies at the chief of defense level on Wednesday to discuss ways to support freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.

A spokesperson said the effort was not a NATO mission, but given the alliance’s capabilities, it made sense for NATO to facilitate the discussions.