Iran threatened on Monday to halt all oil exports through the Strait of Hormuz and the wider Persian Gulf if the United States pressed ahead with a fresh wave of sanctions.
The remarks came hours before US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent unveiled what Washington has called an 'economic D-Day' against Tehran.
"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's supreme national security council secretary Mohsen Rezaei said in a post on X in the early hours of Monday.
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.
— محسن رضایی (@ir_rezaee) August 23, 2026
He warned that Tehran would treat "any country's participation in or support for America's economic war against the Iranian people as an act of war."
A few hours later, Bessent posted on X that President Donald Trump "has dismantled Iran's military capabilities, destroyed nearly 100% of its military factories, and buried its nuclear program."
President Trump has dismantled Iran's military capabilities, destroyed nearly 100 percent of its military factories, and buried its nuclear program.
— Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (@SecScottBessent) August 23, 2026
We are now entering the endgame. At dawn begins an economic D-Day — the single greatest financial offensive ever marshaled against…
"We are now entering the endgame. At dawn begins an economic D-Day — the single greatest financial offensive ever marshaled against an adversary," he wrote, accusing Tehran of "dressing extortion as security guarantees" and vowing to "sever every economic lifeline that sustains the tyrannical regime until Tehran stands alone."
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Bessent was scheduled to detail the sanctions package at a press conference later on Monday, targeting Iran's oil exports, banking channels and foreign trading partners, the US Treasury Department said.
He had earlier described the plan to CNBC as a "one-two punch" combining Washington's existing naval blockade with the "toughest sanctions in history," aimed at forcing the collapse of the Iranian government.
The exchange marks a fresh flashpoint nearly six months into the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, which began with large-scale strikes in February and has remained an uneasy standoff since a ceasefire in June.
The Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly a fifth of the world's oil supply passes, has become the centre of the confrontation, with Trump claiming "total control" of the waterway even as Tehran vows to weaponise its access to global energy markets.
ALSO READ: Strait Of Hormuz Will Not Open Until US 'Corrects Its Behaviour': Iran's Mohsen Rezaei
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