Iran calls US economic war on Tehran an attack on global sovereignty

Iran's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday (local time) sharply condemned the United States' economic war against Iran, calling it an attack on the sovereignty of every nation in the world and a violation of the right to self-determination.

According to Iran's state broadcaster IRIB, the ministry issued a spokesperson statement targeting Washington's declaration that "the day of economic reckoning for Iran has come."

Spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said those who blindly follow such unlawful US measures may dismiss the issue as irrelevant, "but this is an extremely important matter."

Comparing the United States to a "plunderer," Baghaei said the issue no longer concerns Iran alone. "When a hegemonic power compels every bank, economic entity, port, airport and government around the world to choose between submitting to American whims or facing American retaliation, this is no longer just about Iran," he said. He added that Washington's conduct "directly threatens the most fundamental principles of international law and the UN Charter — respect for sovereign equality among states and the right of peoples to self-determination."

Baghaei said any government that values its own sovereignty and national interests would never allow such blatant and systematic lawlessness and abuse to become the norm. He also pointed to Canada, saying it is "one of the countries that has begun to feel, slowly and painfully, the reality of American coercion carried out under the guise of negotiations."

Earlier, the Donald Trump administration announced a new package of sanctions against Iran on Tuesday (local time), including secondary sanctions targeting third countries that trade certain goods with Tehran. The measures, which US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent described as "Operation Economic Outcast," center on imposing secondary sanctions on countries that conduct transactions with Iran involving digital assets, technology, gold, aviation and shipping.

Secondary sanctions — also known as third-party sanctions — allow a country to impose penalties, including tariffs, on third-party nations that do business with a designated sanctions target.