Iran dismisses US 'economic isolation' campaign as 'bluster'

Iran responded with mockery Monday after the United States declared an "economic isolation" campaign of sweeping sanctions against Tehran, with Iranian officials dismissing the move as empty bluster.

Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, Iran's chief negotiator and parliament speaker, posted on X (formerly Twitter) on Monday (local time): "Even Americans know that no one believes their bluster. Economically, the US is not in a position to further restrict other countries' trade with us." He added that Iran's trading partners had made clear — both publicly through the media and in private messages — that they were not concerned by Washington's statements.

Iran's Tasnim News Agency, citing a senior Iranian intelligence official, said the US move was aimed primarily at shaping public opinion rather than imposing substantive economic pressure. The official described it as a plan devised by Trump's media team to apply psychological pressure on the Iranian people.

Iran has spent nearly 50 years — since the Islamic Revolution in 1980 — building expertise in weathering US sanctions. Iranian authorities believe their population is accustomed to scarcity and restrictions, and many analysts expect Tehran to once again dig in for an "economic war" of attrition with Washington.

Some observers go further, predicting that Iran will not merely endure this time but will go on the offensive — arguing that unlike previous rounds of sanctions, the current confrontation is a wartime context in which Tehran has military options at its disposal.

Most immediately, Iran is widely expected to tighten its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, the critical oil shipping lane. Tehran has repeatedly threatened, whenever US pressure intensifies, that "not a single drop of oil will be exported through any part of the Persian Gulf."

On Monday, the same day the US announced its intensified sanctions, Iranian authorities added 45 oil tankers to a sanctions list, citing violations of transit regulations in the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran also warned it would halt operations of so-called shuttle vessels — tankers that ferry crude between Gulf waters and Omani ports outside the strait to facilitate transshipment exports.

Iran could also move to further tighten the blockade of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait at the entrance to the Red Sea — another critical logistics chokepoint — in coordination with its Yemeni Houthi allies.

Strikes against Gulf states represent another option. Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, warned on state television on Saturday that any country participating in the US economic war would be considered an enemy. Earlier, on Tuesday, the Iranian military warned that any support or facilitation provided for US attacks would be treated as direct participation in military action, a statement clearly aimed at Middle Eastern countries hosting US bases.

With the US having declared an "economic war," Iran could invoke the Islamic principle of qisas — an eye for an eye — to claim justification for striking the economic infrastructure of Gulf states, including energy facilities, logistics terminals and desalination plants.

Reuters identified cyberattacks against Western targets as another potential Iranian countermeasure. Water systems in several US states and a small power plant in Britain were temporarily knocked offline late last month, with Iran named as the suspected culprit. Given Tehran's well-documented cyber capabilities, analysts say such attacks remain a credible threat.