{"id":868708,"date":"2026-08-23T16:18:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-23T16:18:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/868708\/"},"modified":"2026-08-23T16:18:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-23T16:18:15","slug":"can-iran-retaliate-against-countries-that-join-us-economic-war-us-israel-war-on-iran-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/868708\/","title":{"rendered":"Can Iran retaliate against countries that join US \u2018economic war\u2019? | US-Israel war on Iran News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Iran has threatened<\/a> to retaliate against any country that joins the United States\u2019 \u201ceconomic war\u201d against it, as diplomatic efforts to end the months-long war have stalled and shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has drastically decreased.<\/p>\n

The warning from Iran\u2019s top security official on Saturday came as the US plans to announce new sanctions on Monday that could further strain the struggling Iranian economy.<\/p>\n

Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list<\/p>\n

So, how can Tehran retaliate?<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what we know:<\/p>\n

What has Iran said?<\/p>\n

On Saturday, Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran\u2019s Supreme National Security Council, told the IRIB state broadcaster that Iran was appealing to all countries around the world, including its neighbours, not to join the US\u2019s \u201ceconomic war\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny country that takes part in imposing economic restrictions on us will be regarded as an enemy,\u201d he said, warning of \u201cseismic\u201d retaliation.<\/p>\n

Rezaei also warned<\/a> Iran\u2019s neighbours that if they participated in Trump\u2019s economic warfare, \u201cnot even a drop of oil\u201d would leave the Gulf region, including by alternative export routes away from the Hormuz chokepoint through which a fifth of global oil and gas exports pass in peacetime.<\/p>\n

Iran has attacked US military installations and civilian locations since the war began on February 28 , on the pretext that Tehran was on the verge of having nuclear bombs. That claim was debunked by the US intelligence agency, as well as the UN\u2019s IAEA nuclear watchdog.<\/p>\n

The US operates military facilities in more than a dozen locations across the Middle East and North Africa, including in Gulf nations, such as Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Thousands of US soldiers are also stationed across the region, including in Jordan.<\/p>\n

Rezaei\u2019s remarks came days after US President Donald Trump announced<\/a> that his government would undertake the \u201cmost crushing economic operation\u201d yet against Iran. He also pledged \u201ctremendous economic consequences\u201d for any country that gives Iran \u201cany type of lifeline\u201d.<\/p>\n

The US Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, echoed his threats<\/a> the following day, saying, \u201cYou\u2019re either with us or against us\u201d. He also urged cooperation from China, which buys more than 80 percent of Iran\u2019s oil shipments.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, Iran\u2019s President Masoud Pezeshkian said: Iran is \u201cin a full-scale economic, military and security war\u201d with the US. He said Washington falsely predicted before the war that it would fall amid US aggression and become like Venezuela.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe enemy had assessed that if Iran falls, it will become Venezuela,\u201d he said in a televised speech.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot only did it not happen, but it became a power that amazed the world with its resistance, solidarity and cohesion.\u201d<\/p>\n

How can Iran retaliate?<\/p>\n

Rezaei described Iran\u2019s strategy as a three-stage sequence, starting with talks with countries cooperating with the US to de-escalate tensions.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, we will first negotiate with them. We will hold talks and tell them to step aside and distance themselves from the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut if they do not act, we will strike. We will target that country\u2019s interests,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Rezaei\u2019s warning that alternative export routes outside Hormuz could be targeted, probably points to the Bab al-Mandeb Strait gateway to the Red Sea. Saudi Arabia has used it to export its oil following the blockade of Hormuz. Tehran imposed a blockade on Hormuz in response to the US war and has since used it as leverage in negotiations with Washington to end the war. The US has put Iranian ports under a naval blockade, impacting Tehran\u2019s international trade.<\/p>\n

Hamidreza Azizi, a researcher on Iran at the Clingendael Institute, said in a post on X on Saturday: \u201cTehran appears to be trying to establish deterrence at an earlier stage, by signalling that even preparations for an attack could trigger an Iranian response.\u201d<\/p>\n

Azizi said two elements in the new \u201coffensive doctrine\u201d are emerging: preemption, which is aimed at preventing a perceived threat from materialising; and disproportionate retaliation, which is aimed at raising the cost of any attack that does occur.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s warning to Gulf states<\/a> joining Trump\u2019s economic war is \u201cessentially an ultimatum\u201d to the Gulf states, he said, adding that Iran\u2019s military-security establishment \u201cis increasingly preparing for another round of escalation\u201d.<\/p>\n

Will Iran\u2019s neighbours join the US in its economic warfare?<\/p>\n

Gulf countries, which are Iran\u2019s neighbours and also US allies, have increasingly been finding themselves caught in the middle of the war. So it is unclear if they will join Washington in economically threatening Iran further.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s attacks on Gulf nations have impacted their economies, which use Hormuz for most of their exports, including oil and gas.<\/p>\n

While Gulf nations have condemned Iranian attacks on their territories, analysts say Gulf states closely aligned with Washington recognise that a functioning political relationship with Iran is necessary due to its close proximity.<\/p>\n

The UAE restored diplomatic relations with Iran in 2022 but imposed a trade embargo last week after accusing Tehran of a missile attack. Iran denies responsibility.<\/p>\n

Saudi Arabia and Iran agreed to normalise ties in 2023 under a deal brokered by China, both likely a calculation that engagement with Iran was safer than permanent confrontation.<\/p>\n

While the Iranian attacks on Gulf states have tested this idea, they have not necessarily shattered it.<\/p>\n

\u201cUltimately, Gulf countries can\u2019t change geography. They have to live and work alongside Iran,\u201d Simon Mabon, a professor of international relations at Lancaster University told<\/a> Al Jazeera in an interview last month. \u201cThey don\u2019t want the instability that would come from the fall of the Islamic Republic. I think some Gulf states have pushed for harder strikes \u2013 not to precipitate its collapse, but to weaken the more hardline elements of the IRGC.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also last month, Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, told Al Jazeera<\/a> that confidence in diplomacy to end the crisis remains low but, at the same time, no nation in the region \u201ccan afford another long war\u201d.<\/p>\n

As a result, that \u201cwill keep them away from a completely uncontrolled level of escalation\u201d, and depleted global oil inventories will make a prolonged confrontation between the US and Iran unattractive.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll inventories have not been able to be replenished\u201d during the ceasefire, Parsi added. \u201cWe are at a much lower level globally.\u201d<\/p>\n

What we know about international sanctions against Iran over previous decades?<\/p>\n

Since 1979, Iran has faced sanctions from the US and other nations in the West. The United Nations has also imposed sanctions on Tehran.<\/p>\n

The US first imposed sanctions after the 1979 Islamic Revolution that toppled the pro-Western ruler Reza Shah Pahlavi. Washington said that was in response to Iranian students taking Americans hostage at the US embassy in Tehran.<\/p>\n

Washington also halted oil imports from Iran and froze $12bn in Iranian assets following the revolution. Iranian products were banned from import into the US, apart from small gifts, informational material, foodstuffs and some carpets.<\/p>\n

In 1995, President Bill Clinton issued executive orders preventing US companies from investing in Iranian oil and gas and trading with Iran. He banned US trade with Iran and investment. A year later, the US Congress passed a law requiring the US government to impose sanctions on foreign firms investing more than $20m a year in Iran\u2019s energy sector.<\/p>\n

Then in December 2006, the United Nations Security Council, whose members include China, Russia, the UK and France, imposed sanctions on Iran\u2019s trade in nuclear-energy-related materials and technology and froze the assets of individuals and companies involved in related activities.<\/p>\n

The sanctions were mainly an effort to curtail Iran\u2019s growing nuclear capacity, but while programmes to enrich uranium were stopped in 2002, they restarted in late 2005. In subsequent years, the UN toughened the sanctions and imposed more. The European Union also followed suit.<\/p>\n

In 2015, Iran signed a nuclear deal \u2013 the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) \u2013 with the US, EU, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United Kingdom. The deal put a cap on Iran\u2019s nuclear programme in return for the complete lifting of sanctions.<\/p>\n

However, in 2018, during his first term, Trump announced the US withdrawal from the nuclear treaty and reimposed all sanctions on Iran that were lifted under the treaty as part of his \u201cmaximum pressure\u201d campaign against Tehran.<\/p>\n

In 2019, the Trump administration designated Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) a \u2018Foreign Terrorist Organisation\u2019. Additionally, he imposed sanctions targeting petrochemicals, metals (steel, aluminium, copper) and senior Iranian officials.<\/p>\n

During Trump\u2019s first term, Qassem Soleimani, the head of the IRGC\u2019s elite Quds Force, was assassinated in a drone strike in Baghdad in 2020. The US also imposed additional sanctions on Iran.<\/p>\n

The Biden administration, in power from 2021 to 2025, kept in place most US sanctions.<\/p>\n

Last September, UN sanctions were reimposed due to Iran\u2019s nuclear programme when the UNSC voted against<\/a> permanently lifting economic sanctions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Iran has threatened to retaliate against any country that joins the United States\u2019 \u201ceconomic war\u201d against it, as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":868709,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,5897,1259,44,41,39,42,40,772,1690,206083],"class_list":["post-868708","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-iran","tag-middle-east","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-united-states","tag-us-canada","tag-us-israel-war-on-iran"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868708","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=868708"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868708\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/868709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=868708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=868708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=868708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}