Iran Warns Neighbors: Back US 'Economic War' and Be Treated as Enemies Skip to main content

Iran Warns Neighbors: Back US 'Economic War' and Be Treated as Enemies

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By Tanha Sagar | Published on

 The secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council threatens to target the interests of Gulf states that join Washington's sanctions push, as the six-month Iran-U.S. confrontation shifts from the battlefield toward economic pressure


Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, issued a warning in a broadcast interview Saturday. Any country that joins a new United States campaign to isolate the Iranian economy, he said, would be treated as an enemy and have its interests targeted. The remarks are Rezaei's own statement on state television, not a formal council decision. But they mark an attempt by Tehran to extend its six-month confrontation with Washington and Israel into a fight over sanctions compliance, and to pressure Gulf states that host American forces and trade heavily with Iran.


A New Ultimatum From Tehran's Security Chief

In an interview broadcast Saturday, August 22, on Iran's state broadcaster IRIB, Rezaei said Tehran would regard any country that takes part in Washington's economic restrictions on Iran as hostile, unless it distanced itself from the United States. He put the threat in stark terms. According to Rezaei's remarks as reported by the Azerbaijani state news agency APA, he warned that if neighboring states join the U.S. sanctions campaign, “not a single drop of oil will be shipped from the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz.” Iran would then “view other routes of oil export from the region as its target,” he said. Iran's semi-official Fars News Agency subsequently carried a similar formulation of the warning in a video statement attributed to Rezaei, in which he said Iran would strike the interests of any neighboring country that joined a U.S. economic war, and would target both the Strait of Hormuz and other regional oil-export routes if that happened. The two accounts are consistent with each other and with the general warning about Iranian “oil and commercial interests” that first drew international coverage of the interview.

Rezaei was named SNSC secretary on August 9–10, replacing Mohammad Baqer Zolqadr. The appointment was independently reported by Reuters, via multiple republishing outlets, the Associated Press and the Iran-focused outlet IranWire. In the interview, as reported by multiple outlets, he described a phased approach: negotiation with neighbors, an effort to persuade them to distance themselves from Washington, and, absent compliance, unspecified retaliatory action. He also said discussions with Oman over managing the Strait of Hormuz were continuing. One further reported detail could not be confirmed against a primary transcript for this article: his comment, cited by some outlets, that transit fees would be imposed on shipping.

The Iranian foreign ministry separately denounced the incoming U.S. measures as an assertion of what it called “extraterritorial sovereignty.” Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi dismissed the new sanctions push as a distraction from what he described as America's own fiscal troubles. (Al Jazeera; CNBC)

The key facts break down as follows:

●        Verified fact: Rezaei made the statement. It was broadcast on state television and independently reported by Reuters, AFP, the Associated Press, Al Jazeera, CNBC and other outlets citing the IRIB broadcast.

●        Official position: Iran regards participation in U.S. economic restrictions as an act of enmity, and has now specified the Hormuz oil-export threat in similar language across two separate outlets.

●        Reported claim, not confirmed against a primary transcript for this article: the precise scope of any retaliatory action against “oil and economic companies” that Rezaei described, which multiple outlets quote him as raising but not detailing further.

Six Months of War, and a New Front

The threat lands roughly six months into the confrontation that has consumed the region since the United States and Israel launched joint airstrikes on Iran on February 28, 2026. Multiple independently reporting outlets, including Reuters wire copy republished by Oman Observer and Business Standard, report that the operation killed Iran's longtime supreme leader Ali Khamenei. His son Mojtaba Khamenei was subsequently confirmed as his successor and is now issuing decrees in that capacity. Washington and Israel described their goal as preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon and degrading its missile and drone programs. Iran responded with strikes on Israel, U.S. bases and Gulf infrastructure, and by asserting control over the Strait of Hormuz, sharply curtailing tanker traffic through the waterway for extended periods since.

A series of ceasefires have repeatedly broken down. An early-April truce tied to a temporary reopening of Hormuz unraveled within weeks in disputes over shipping routes, and fighting resumed in July, according to contemporaneous wire reporting. A June 17 memorandum of understanding between Washington and Tehran set a 60-day negotiating window that expired in mid-August without a comprehensive deal. Iran and Oman have nonetheless reported progress toward a narrower arrangement on a new shipping corridor through the strait. Iran continues to insist that any full reopening depends on four conditions: the United States lifting its naval blockade, withdrawing military assets from the region, unfreezing Iranian funds, and compensating Tehran for war damage. Washington has not accepted these conditions.

The war has been economically punishing for Iran. CBS News reported that a World Bank assessment projected Iran's real GDP would contract 6.4 percent in 2026, amid collapsed tourism, weaker consumption and disrupted supply chains, with inflation forecast at 17.5 percent. Those figures are attributed to the World Bank via that reporting; this article has not confirmed them against the original report. (CBS News) China remains Iran's largest oil customer by a wide margin. U.S. officials, including Treasury Secretary Bessent, have put China's share of Iran's oil exports at roughly 80–90 percent, according to NPR's reporting of his remarks. (NPR)

Why Tehran Is Talking Tough Now

Rezaei's warning followed a week of escalating rhetoric from Washington. On August 19, President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social that the United States would launch what he called the “most crushing economic operation ever taken against any country,” vowing severe penalties on any nation whose banks, businesses, airports or officials provide Iran a financial “lifeline.” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent followed with a promise of the “toughest sanctions in history,” telling other governments, in his words, that they were “either with us or against us.”

Sources: CNBC, August 19, 2026; NBC News, August 21, 2026

Separately, Iran International reported that Rezaei has also threatened “earthquake-like” retaliation against further Trump administration action, and called for changes to Iran's diplomatic approach, citing what he described as repeated U.S. breaches of prior commitments. (Iran International) Some social-media material in circulation attributes additional, more specific remarks to Rezaei and to an unidentified “Major General Raeisi.” This article could not independently verify those quotes or confirm the existence of an Iranian military officer by that name, and has not incorporated them.

Three levels of explanation are worth separating here. Established cause: the immediate trigger for Rezaei's warning was the new U.S. sanctions push, announced days earlier and due to be detailed further by Bessent. Likely contributing factor: the expiration of the 60-day U.S.–Iran negotiating window in mid-August without a deal, which removed a diplomatic off-ramp and left both sides searching for leverage. Analytical inference: by publicly threatening neighbors rather than only Washington, Tehran may be trying to fracture what has so far been a loosely coordinated Gulf and Chinese posture toward the sanctions campaign, rather than face it as a unified front.

The Cast of an Escalating Standoff

Iran's Supreme National Security Council

Mohsen Rezaei, a 71-year-old former Revolutionary Guard commander and one-time presidential candidate, became secretary of the Supreme National Security Council on August 9–10, replacing Mohammad Baqer Zolqadr. Analysts describe the appointment as part of a broader hardening of Iran's security leadership following the wartime deaths of several senior officials. His stated objective, as conveyed in the interview, is to avoid expanding the war while deterring neighbors from economic cooperation with Washington. Analysts see his repeated invocation of Hormuz control as Iran's clearest remaining source of leverage, though that is an outside interpretation, not a claim Rezaei made explicitly.

The Trump administration

President Trump and Treasury Secretary Bessent frame economic pressure as a tool to finish what military strikes have not: forcing Iranian capitulation without a full resumption of large-scale combat. Bessent has said that a large-scale military restart is unlikely if the maximum economic pressure campaign proceeds, suggesting Washington sees sanctions partly as an alternative to further strikes rather than only a complement to them. The administration's stated aim, per its own officials, is a comprehensive collapse of the current Iranian leadership's financial position. Its declared constraint is the domestic political cost of high fuel prices ahead of November's midterm elections.

China

China, which purchases the large majority of Iran's oil exports, has rejected Washington's request to join the sanctions push. Foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said sanctions and pressure would not help resolve the issue, and called instead for a diplomatic and political solution. (Bloomberg) Beijing's position is complicated by President Xi Jinping's planned state visit to the United States in September. CNN's reporting says that visit is a factor making Washington reluctant, for now, to sanction the major Chinese banks that finance the oil trade. (CNN)

Gulf states, the UAE and Oman

The threat is aimed squarely at Iran's neighbors, several of which host American forces or have already been drawn into the conflict. The United Arab Emirates, historically one of Iran's largest trading partners, suspended all trade, commercial exchange and financial transactions with Tehran on August 18–19. That followed a report from its air defenses of intercepted ballistic missiles fired toward the Emirates, which Iran denied launching. The UAE's foreign ministry said the step reflected regional escalation that undermined peace and security, not a response to the sanctions campaign specifically. Even so, it shows how quickly Gulf economic ties with Iran can be severed. (Gulf News)

Oman remains Iran's principal interlocutor on the Strait of Hormuz itself. The two sides report a near-final arrangement on shipping coordinates, even as a full reopening stays tied to broader U.S.–Iran negotiations. Media reports cited by Euronews and Yahoo News have suggested that Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait and Bahrain have all struck targets inside Iran in retaliation for attacks on the Gulf during the war. That claim is unconfirmed and disputed; the governments involved have mostly denied it. It nonetheless underscores the regional stakes if Rezaei's threat against “neighbors” were to be acted upon. (Euronews)

What the Threat Actually Signals

Rezaei's statement is best read as a continuation of existing Iranian policy, since Tehran has warned of consequences for sanctions-compliant states before, rather than as a wholly new strategic departure. What is new is the explicit linkage to a named, imminent U.S. sanctions package, and the direct targeting of “neighbors,” a category that includes states Iran has already struck or accused of hosting American operations during the war. In that sense, the warning functions less as a declaration of a new front than as an attempt to shape the behavior of Gulf governments before Washington's sanctions details, expected the following Monday from Bessent, are finalized.

It also reflects a broader shift in the war's center of gravity. Active combat between Iran and the U.S.-Israeli coalition has largely paused since early August. Both sides are now contesting the conflict primarily through economic and diplomatic means: sanctions, blockade enforcement and control of Hormuz shipping routes, rather than kinetic strikes.

Risks, Costs and Openings

The dispute carries implications on three different timelines:

●        Immediate: Gulf governments face a narrowing set of choices between compliance with U.S. sanctions demands and exposure to Iranian retaliation, at a moment when several have already suffered missile and drone attacks during the war.

●        Medium-term: further disruption to Hormuz shipping would keep upward pressure on global energy prices. The International Energy Agency puts normal flows through the strait at roughly a quarter of the world's seaborne oil trade and about 19–20 percent of global LNG trade (separate figures, not a single combined share). Rising fuel prices are a politically sensitive issue for the Trump administration itself.

●        Long-term: a durable rupture between Iran and Gulf trading partners such as the UAE would accelerate the reorientation of Iranian trade toward China, deepening Tehran's economic dependence on Beijing.

Key risk: miscalculation around the strait. Iran has previously laid mines, boarded vessels and fired on shipping there, raising the possibility that a move against a neighbor's tanker or infrastructure could draw in U.S. or allied naval forces, even absent a formal decision to restart large-scale combat. Potential opportunity: the continuing Iran–Oman technical talks on shipping routes, described by both sides as nearing completion, offer one of the only functioning channels through which de-escalation could proceed independent of the broader sanctions dispute.

Three Paths From Here

Most likely scenario

Washington proceeds with expanded sanctions in the coming days, targeting shipping, banking and shell-company networks that Trump has said must stop. It stops short, for now, of directly sanctioning major Chinese banks ahead of the September Xi visit. Iran continues its threatening rhetoric and further squeezes Hormuz transit fees and access, rather than launching direct strikes on Gulf states. The Iran–Oman shipping arrangement proceeds on a limited, technical basis, without a full reopening of the strait.

Alternative scenario

One or more Gulf states, under U.S. pressure to curtail financial dealings with Iran, further restrict trade, as the UAE has already done unilaterally. That prompts an Iranian retaliatory step short of open attack, such as new restrictions on shipping tied to that state's flag or ownership, testing the credibility of Rezaei's threat without triggering a broader clash.

High-impact / worst-case scenario

Iran or Iran-aligned forces strike tankers, port infrastructure or other economic targets linked to a Gulf state perceived as cooperating with U.S. sanctions enforcement. That prompts a Gulf or U.S.–Israeli military response and a renewed escalation of the kind seen in March and April, with associated spikes in oil prices and further disruption of Hormuz shipping. Warning indicators to watch include:

●        A breakdown in the Iran–Oman shipping talks.

●        A sanctions announcement naming specific Gulf entities.

●        A further UAE-style suspension of ties by another Gulf state.

What Regional and Global Actors Should Consider

●        For Gulf governments: maintaining open, low-profile channels with Tehran, even while complying with U.S. sanctions requests, as Oman has done on the technical shipping talks, may reduce the risk of being singled out as a target. Coordinating a joint Gulf Cooperation Council position could reduce the incentive for Iran to pick off individual states.

●        For Washington: broad rhetorical threats against “any country” providing Iran a lifeline complicate rather than simplify compliance for close allies with deep, decades-old commercial ties to Iran. A narrower, more precisely targeted sanctions list may achieve more durable cooperation from the UAE, Saudi Arabia and other partners than an undifferentiated ultimatum.

●        For mediators, including Oman, Qatar and Pakistan, all of whom have played roles in prior rounds of talks: sustaining and, where possible, expanding the narrow technical channel on Hormuz shipping represents one of the few concrete, incremental confidence-building steps available, independent of progress on the broader sanctions and nuclear disputes.

●        For international organizations and shipping-safety bodies: continued monitoring and public reporting on Hormuz transit volumes and incidents, of the kind currently provided by UKMTO and commercial trackers, remains important for transparency, given the gap between Iranian, U.S. and Omani public statements about the strait's actual status.

Conclusion

Mohsen Rezaei's warning is unlikely, on its own, to reopen full-scale combat in the Gulf. But it captures where the six-month-old Iran war now stands: a conflict fought less with missiles than with sanctions lists, shipping lanes and bank transfers. Tehran's remaining leverage runs through the Strait of Hormuz and its neighbors' willingness to keep trading with it. Whether that leverage translates into action, rather than another round of rhetoric, will depend largely on decisions still to be made in Washington, over how, and against whom, its new sanctions are actually enforced.

Sources and References

●        Al Jazeera — "Iran warns nearby nations against joining US 'economic war' efforts," Aug. 22, 2026

●        CNBC — "Ahead of tough new U.S. sanctions, Iran criticizes 'extraterritorial sovereignty'," Aug. 22, 2026

●        South China Morning Post — "Iran condemns US plans to announce new sanctions," Aug. 22, 2026

●        Associated Press via The Hill / CP24 — "Iran security chief threatens neighbours against economic measures," Aug. 22–23, 2026

●        NBC News — "Iran vows 'devastating' response as U.S. threatens toughest ever economic hit," Aug. 21, 2026

●        Bloomberg — "China Says Trump's Economic Warfare Won't Solve Iran Crisis," Aug. 20, 2026

●        CNBC — "Trump threatens 'Economic D-Day' for Iran," Aug. 19, 2026

●        Al Jazeera — "Trump's 'economic D-Day' claims first victim: Not Iran, but US markets," Aug. 21, 2026

●        CBS News live updates — "Iran declares it has won the war as U.S. turns to economic warfare"

●        Gulf News — "UAE suspends all trade and financial transactions with Iran until further notice," Aug. 19, 2026

●        CNN live updates, Aug. 19, 2026 — UAE trade suspension and regional developments

●        Al Jazeera — "Iran deliberates Hormuz arrangement amid uncertain prospects with US," Aug. 8, 2026

●        CBS News — "Trump threatens to bomb Oman with Iran war stuck in stalemate as 60-day negotiation period ends"

●        IranWire — "Mohsen Rezaei Appointed Secretary of Supreme National Security Council," Aug. 10, 2026

●        Oman Observer — Reuters wire, "Mohsen Rezaei appointed as secretary of Iran's top security body," Aug. 10, 2026

●        Business Standard — Reuters wire, same appointment story, Aug. 10, 2026

●        Yahoo News — Reuters wire, same appointment story (Khamenei succession context), Aug. 10, 2026

●        International Energy Agency — "Strait of Hormuz" (oil and LNG transit shares, official data page)

●        NPR — "Top Iran official says U.S. focus on economic warfare shows it has failed militarily," Aug. 21, 2026

●        Euronews — "UAE halts all trade and financial dealings with Iran," Aug. 19, 2026

●        APA (Azerbaijan state news agency) — "Iran to attack other oil export routes if Gulf countries support US sanctions," Aug. 23, 2026

●        Iran International — live blog, Aug. 22, 2026 (Rezaei on retaliation and diplomatic approach)

Note on sourcing and verification: This article draws on contemporaneous reporting from Al Jazeera, CNBC, Bloomberg, NPR, the Associated Press, NBC News, CBS News, CNN, Gulf News, Euronews, the South China Morning Post, IranWire and APA, plus a video statement carried by Iran's semi-official Fars News Agency, and on official energy-market data from the IEA. Institutional attribution is consistent throughout: statements are attributed to SNSC secretary Mohsen Rezaei personally, not characterized as a formal Supreme National Security Council decision, since only his individual remarks are documented. Combined Hormuz oil-and-LNG transit figures use the IEA's separate published shares rather than a blended estimate. Direct quotations are limited to short, attributed statements; broader claims reflect synthesis and cross-checking across the sources above. Statements by Iranian, U.S., Chinese and Emirati officials are presented as official positions or reported claims, not independently verified fact, except where multiple independent outlets corroborate the same underlying event. Background claims about Ali Khamenei's death and Mojtaba Khamenei's succession are sourced to wire reporting (Reuters, independently republished by Oman Observer, Business Standard and Yahoo News, among others), not to Wikipedia.

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