Iran has threatened to disrupt oil exports from the Persian Gulf if countries in the region cooperate with President Donald Trump\u2019s planned economic sanctions against Tehran, warning that nations cannot help impose an economic blockade on Iran while continuing to benefit from unrestricted oil flows.\n<\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s new national security chief, Mohsen Rezaei, said Tehran would initially seek negotiations with countries that join the United States pressure campaign but would move to target their oil export routes if those efforts failed, according to a report by the New York Times on Sunday.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cCountries cannot join America in imposing an economic blockade and harm our interests while we continue allowing oil to leave the Persian Gulf,\u201d Rezaei said in an interview with Iran\u2019s state broadcaster on Saturday. He added, \u201cWe will target those routes as well.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Rezaei, a political hard-liner and former commander of Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, also declared that countries assisting Washington\u2019s economic pressure campaign would be treated as enemies. \u201cAny country that becomes a partner in creating economic restrictions against us will be regarded by us as an enemy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The warning raises the prospect of a broader disruption to energy supplies across the Gulf at a time when the Trump administration is preparing to intensify economic pressure on Tehran.\n<\/p>\n
Trump has threatened \u201ctremendous economic consequences\u201d for countries that continue doing business with Iran, while Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is expected to announce Washington\u2019s economic plan against Tehran on Monday.\n<\/p>\n
Bessent last week warned of \u201cnever before seen\u201d measures. Analysts said the measures could include sanctions against countries buying Iranian oil and additional restrictions on financial transactions with Tehran.<\/p>\n
The threat from Tehran comes as the United States and Iran remain locked in an economic confrontation following months of military hostilities.\n<\/p>\n
Iran has continued to restrict traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world\u2019s most important energy corridors, and has refused to lift the restrictions until an agreement is reached with Washington, including access to frozen Iranian assets and relief from US sanctions.\n<\/p>\n
But Rezaei\u2019s latest warning suggests that Tehran could seek to extend the disruption beyond Hormuz if Gulf states participate in the US pressure campaign. <\/p>\n
Iranian authorities, according to Rezaei, would first attempt to negotiate with countries joining the sanctions regime. If those efforts failed, he said Tehran could move against alternative routes used by Gulf oil producers.\n<\/p>\n
The threat could therefore affect efforts by major oil-producing countries to reduce their vulnerability to disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz.\n<\/p>\n
Saudi Arabia has invested heavily in pipelines carrying oil towards the Red Sea, allowing some exports to bypass the strait. Iraq has also increased the movement of crude through pipelines to Turkey and by road through Syria.\n<\/p>\n
Those alternative routes could become vulnerable if Tehran follows through on its warning. The immediate pressure is already being felt by Iran\u2019s regional trading relationships.<\/p>\n
The United Arab Emirates halted all trade and financial transactions with Iran earlier this week, a decision that could significantly restrict Iranian importers\u2019 access to financial services and make it harder for businesses to pay for goods.\n<\/p>\n
A similar move by Turkey, another major Iranian trading partner, could have even more serious consequences for Tehran.\n<\/p>\n
Mahdi Ghodsi, an economist at the Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, said the economic confrontation amounted to an expansion of the war. \u201cThis is an extension and expansion of war, until Iran reaches an agreement with the US,\u201d Ghodsi said. \u201cAnd it\u2019s going to be worse for Iran than for the regional or global economy,\u201d he added.\n<\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s threat comes despite its own deepening economic crisis. The country\u2019s energy infrastructure has been damaged by the conflict, while the US maritime blockade has restricted trade and contributed to a reported 15 to 30 per cent reduction in energy production, according to Ghodsi.\n<\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s economy was already under severe strain before the conflict began. A sharp fall in the value of the Iranian rial triggered nationwide protests that were violently suppressed, with thousands reportedly killed. The currency has since lost another 40 per cent of its value.\n<\/p>\n
The crisis between Iran and the US has continued to cause fluctuations in the prices of crude oil, a development that consistently alters the pump prices of refined petroleum products in Nigeria.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Iran has threatened to disrupt oil exports from the Persian Gulf if countries in the region cooperate with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":251020,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[26],"tags":[31872,264,1825,1743,34,49,1205,39,101,66],"class_list":["post-261873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-persian-gulf","tag-economic-blockade","tag-energy-security","tag-global-oil-market","tag-international-relations","tag-iran","tag-middle-east","tag-oil-exports","tag-persian-gulf","tag-strait-of-hormuz","tag-us-sanctions"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/117148181353886681","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=261873"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261873\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/251020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}