WASHINGTON (TNND) — Ahead of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s unveiling of the Trump administration’s new offensive of economic warfare self-dubbed “economic D-Day,” Iran previewed its plan to retaliate.
“If the economic war continues, not a single drop of oil will be exported٫ neither through the Strait of Hormuz nor from anywhere in the Persian Gulf. Iran will regard any country’s participation in or support for America’s economic war against the Iranian people as an act of war,” Iranian Supreme National Security Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaei said Sunday.
During a press conference Monday, Bessent described the new measures as “an economic onslaught against Iran’s financial connections around the globe.” This included broadened secondary sanctions on those doing business with Iran in five key sectors: digital assets, technology, gold, aviation and shipping. The secretary said his department also sanctioned more than 60 entities, individuals and vessels accused of enabling the Iranian regime’s oil sales, cyber operations and access to weapons technology.
Bessent said officials at the Pentagon, Treasury Department and State Department contacted global counterparts to put them on notice, and that each country will have its own timeline for cutting economic ties with Tehran. The administration didn’t name who received warnings, but Bessent said he expects there will be a “major announcement” about a specific financial institution by the end of the week.
When a reporter challenged the secretary’s comparison of the sanctions warnings to D-Day, a surprise Allied invasion of Nazi-occupied France in World War II, Bessent said, “Why would I want to blow up the global financial system? We believe that it is important to level set and give people a cure period.”
In an interview with a state-run media outlet, Rezaei said, “we will retaliate in a seismic manner.”
“First, we will tell all neighboring countries and countries around the world not to join the United States in an economic war against us. Any country that takes part in imposing economic restrictions on us will be regarded as an enemy. Of course, we will first negotiate with that country. We will hold meetings and tell them to step aside and distance themselves from the United States. If they do not, we will strike. We will target that country’s interests,” Rezaei said.
Iran’s key trading partners include China, the top purchaser of Iranian oil, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Iraq, India and Pakistan.
How the administration handles Chinese institutions is a particularly delicate dance ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s trip to Washington next month. As proven by last year’s trade war, the world’s second-largest economy isn’t afraid to retaliate.