Iran threatened harsh retaliation on Monday against any country that cooperates with new economic sanctions imposed by the United States, which the US Treasury Secretary described as the biggest financial offensive ever launched against an adversary.
Iran's warning to Washington
Esmail Baghaei, spokesman for Iran's Foreign Ministry, said any escalation would certainly bring consequences and that Iran did not have its hands tied. He said that if any other country supported the sanctions, Iran would treat that support as an act of war.
Mohsen Rezaei, head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, went further, warning of what he called an earthquake across the region. He said that if neighbouring countries joined the Americans in this economic war, not a single drop of oil would leave the Persian Gulf.
US sanctions target trading partners
Among the measures announced by the United States is a provision imposing sanctions on any country that continues to trade with Iran, extending the pressure beyond Tehran itself to third-party governments and businesses that keep commercial ties with the country.
Currency slides ahead of announcement
Iran's currency, the rial, fell sharply in the period before the sanctions were formally announced. The Persian Gulf, the body of water Rezaei referred to in his warning, sits between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula and is one of the world's most important routes for shipping crude oil, making any disruption there a matter of global economic concern.
Background to the standoff
The latest sanctions add to a long history of US economic pressure on Iran, which Washington has used for years in an effort to curb Tehran's oil exports and influence in the region. Iranian officials have repeatedly cast such measures as acts of economic warfare, while US officials have defended them as necessary tools to isolate the Iranian government.
