Tehran has cautioned its Gulf neighbours against joining Donald Trump’s “economic D-Day” sanctions after the US said it would look to hit Iran’s financial interests.
Iran’s security chief Mohsen Rezaei said Tehran will look to target the interests of Gulf countries that join the US president’s sanctions.
“If the countries surrounding Iran join the Americans in their economic war, not a drop of oil will leave the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, and we will also target other oil export routes from the Persian Gulf,” Al-Jazeera reported him as saying on Saturday night.
It comes after the US president promised to wage "Economic Warfare and Isolation on an unprecedented scale” on Iran in what he called the “toughest sanctions in history”. In response, Tehran accused Trump of threatening “economic terrorism”.
Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei on Saturday said that the imminent US announcement of new economic sanctions on Iran was an "assertion of extraterritorial sovereignty over every independent member state of the United Nations".
Trump threatens to crush Iran with ‘Economic D Day’ - but he is running out of cards to play
The US president has threatened to impose unprecedented economic punishment on Iran, but experts tell Maira Butt that China may prove a huge obstacle.
Recap: Trump says he will declare the Strait of Hormuz a US territory
Donald Trump has threatened to declare the Strait of Hormuz a US territory, escalating his rhetoric over control of the waterway amid the war with Iran.
The US president said he would make the designation “pretty soon”, as Tehran and Washington remain at an impasse over the future of the strait nearly six months after it was closed when the US and Israel launched their war on 28 February.
“After we finish defeating Iran, which is being very badly defeated, pretty soon I’ll be declaring the Hormuz strait a territory of the United States,” Mr Trump told a crowd of law enforcement officers.
“Essentially, that’s what it is. We have the blockade. No ships get through unless we want them to.”
You can read the full report below:
Watch: Netanyahu puts NYC mayor Mamdani alongside Iran’s Ayatollah on enemies list
From a 230-year-old ally to a bombing target: How Trump is trying to wreck the US-Omani relationship
On Monday, President Donald Trump made yet another unprecedented and violent threat against a country in the Middle East.
But this time the target of his ire was unexpected. Oman, an American ally for almost 200 years, would be bombed “to s***” if it interfered with a potential US-Iran peace deal, Trump told a FOX News reporter.
It was not the first time that Trump had threatened Oman, previously warning the country in May to “behave” or face potential military action.
But Trump, growing increasingly frustrated with deadlocked talks after a 60-day interim deal expired on Monday, lashed out at the US ally on Monday warning: “If Oman gets in the way, we’ll bomb the s**t out of them.”
You can read more about how President Trump’s growing frustration threatens to damage the US-Omani relationship below:
Strait of Hormuz tracker: The maps and charts that debunk Trump’s claim the route has reopened
Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has plunged to single digits as US-Iran peace talks have ground to a complete halt.
Only seven commodity vessels passed through the waterway on Thursday, some of the lowest numbers seen in weeks, according to Kpler data. Four ships entered the Gulf while only three exited.
This number was down from 14 on Wednesday. No supertankers or liquefied natural gas carriers were recorded passing through the vital chokepoint through which one fifth of the world’s energy passes.
Between 130 to 140 vessels transited the passage every day, before US-Israeli strikes sparked the war with Iran on 28 February.
You can read the full story below:
Tehran warns Gulf neighbours against joining US 'economic D-Day'
Tehran has cautioned its Gulf neighbours against joining Donald Trump’s “economic D-Day” sanctions after the US said it would look to hit Iran’s financial interests.
Iran’s security chief Mohsen Rezaei said Tehran will look to target the interests of Gulf countries that join the US president’s sanctions.
“If the countries surrounding Iran join the Americans in their economic war, not a drop of oil will leave the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, and we will also target other oil export routes from the Persian Gulf,” Al-Jazeera reported him as saying on Saturday night.
US military presence in Middle East could be cut back after Iran war ends: report
The Pentagon is considering reducing US military presence in the Middle East following the conclusion of the Iran war, according to a report.
Troops could be withdrawn from the Persian Gulf, officials told The Washington Post, following months of attacks by Iranian forces that have targeted US bases across the region since the war began in late February.
The Pentagon’s policy office is evaluating US regional presence, with US Central Command (Centcom) and Joint Staff also looking at the situation, a senior Pentagon official told the outlet.
While no formal review has been ordered by U.S. defence secretary Pete Hegseth, “decisions are going to have to be made on some of this stuff,” the official told The Post.
You can read more below:
Watch: Trump sheds light on plan to increase Iran sanctions
Iran says the world has accepted it has defeated the US
Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian has called for the conflict with the US to end and claimed the world has already accepted that Iran has won.
Speaking at a meeting of doctors on Friday, he said: “The entire world approved our victory and the U.S. is hated,” according to IRNA news agency.
The remarks came as the Trump administration threatened a crushing financial campaign against Iran, promising an “economic D-Day” against the country.
President Donald Trump announced that the US would be imposing an “unprecedented” level of economic warfare and isolation on Iran, aiming to force its leadership to cave to demands to end its nuclear program and fully reopen the crucial Strait of Hormuz to oil and natural gas tankers.
Federal judge vacates Trump policy that suspended processing of immigration visas from 75 countries - including Iran
A federal judge in New York has vacated a Trump administration policy that suspended the processing of visas from 75 countries, including Afghanistan, Iran, Russia and Somalia, whose nationals the Trump administration deemed likely to require public assistance in the United States.
US District Judge Jeannette Vargas, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, set aside the policy Friday as "contrary to law and in excess of statutory authority."
Secretary of State Marco Rubio exceeded his authority by issuing the policy, which "runs afoul" of the Immigration and Nationality Act by mandating "the refusal of visas to eligible applicants without any basis in law," the judge ruled.
Ms Vargas said the policy also undermines the congressional requirement that puts consular officers at the forefront of any visa decision.
"Congress imbued these officers with exclusive authority and discretion to determine if an immigrant is eligible for a visa based upon review of specific and detailed criteria set forth in the statute," she wrote.
"The Policy, which categorically prohibits the issuance of immigrant visas based upon the nationality of the applicant, represents a direct abrogation of this statutory scheme."
The policy was challenged by two nonprofit organizations along with 11 individuals, including six whose family members had been refused visas. The remaining five are outside the country and had filed "employment-based petitions" to come to the United States.