Iran says it's confident it can weather Trump's latest economic sanctions
The White House has threatened to carry out 'the single greatest financial offensive ever' against Iran, which has weathered near-continuous, punishing economic sanctions for nearly 50 years since the Islamic Revolution of 1979
Iran says it is confident it can handle renewed US sanctions after Trump announced “economic D-Day” in an attempt to isolate Tehran from the global economy.
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Iran has weathered near-continuous, punishing economic sanctions for nearly 50 years, since the Islamic Revolution of 1979.
Iranian Economy Minister Ali Madanizadeh said they were "fully prepared" for the sanctions, which he claimed would lead to "another defeat" for the US.
While announcing the measures, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned that any country, bank or business offering “any sort of lifeline to Iran” would be isolated on the world stage.
This comes following several attempts and deadline extensions from the White House to end the conflict.
Read more: Iran vows 'devastating' response as Trump threatens 'economic D-Day'
Bessent hailed the new measures as "the single greatest financial offensive ever" against Tehran, which would "tighten the noose and block every potential source of revenue".
Iran’s top trading partners, including China, Turkey, and the UAE, all announced last week they would stop all trade with the country.
This marked a blow to the Islamic Republic, which still insisted it was confident its partners would continue to trade with it.
Madanizadeh insisted that neither Russia nor China had "accepted" the sanctions, and suggested that other countries would resist the measures.
"The government is and was ready and has a two-year plan to manage these events," he told state television, adding that Tehran had been "waiting for these plans for a long time".
"We also have our own tools and know how to play the game," he said.
The chief of staff of Iran's Armed Forces, Major General Ali Abdollahi, previously said that the Islamic Republic’s response to any new US threats would be "devastating".
"With preparedness across land, sea, air, air defence and cyberspace, Iran's armed forces will respond to the enemy's new threats with crushing, punishing and devastating responses," Abdollahi was quoted as saying by Iranian media.
Iran's powerful parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, the country's leading negotiator in mediated talks with the US, said Washington appeared to have concluded it could not prevail in its direct military confrontation.
"We must make plans to deal with the unjust sanctions so that we can overcome them," he said during a visit to neighbouring Iraq, accusing the US and Israel of resorting to what he said was economic and "cognitive" warfare.
Oil prices steadied on Friday but were on track for a second weekly rise on concern over Gulf energy exports. Oil hit a more than three-week high on Thursday after the sanctions threat, intended to force Iran to agree an end to a conflict that has stranded millions of barrels of Middle Eastern oil.
"I'm not sure why oil has popped up on this," Bessent told CNBC. "If we are doing the maximum economic pressure, then that means that likely there will not be a large-scale kinetic restart," he said, using a term referring to military force.