{"id":221548,"date":"2026-08-22T06:20:17","date_gmt":"2026-08-22T06:20:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/iran-vows-devastating-response-as-u-s-threatens-toughest-ever-economic-hit-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2026-08-22T06:20:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-22T06:20:17","slug":"iran-vows-devastating-response-as-u-s-threatens-toughest-ever-economic-hit-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/iran-vows-devastating-response-as-u-s-threatens-toughest-ever-economic-hit-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran vows \u2018devastating\u2019 response as U.S. threatens toughest ever economic hit – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Iran said on Friday that its response to any new U.S. threats would be \u201cdevastating\u201d after Washington pledged to impose the toughest financial penalties in history w<\/a>ith the aim of toppling the Iranian leadership.
U.S. Treasury chief Scott Bessent\u2019s comments on Thursday followed a warning from President Donald Trump of economic consequences against any country that provided \u201cany type of lifeline to Iran.\u201d Bessent promised details on Monday.
The chief of staff of Iran\u2019s Armed Forces, Maj. Gen. Ali Abdollahi, said the Islamic Republic\u2019s reaction<\/a> would be broad and decisive.
\u201cWith preparedness across land, sea, air, air defence and cyberspace, Iran\u2019s armed forces will respond to the enemy\u2019s new threats with crushing, punishing and devastating responses,\u201d Abdollahi was quoted as saying by Iranian media.
Iran\u2019s powerful parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf<\/a>, the country\u2019s main negotiator in mediated negotiations with the United States, said Washington appeared to have concluded it could not prevail in its direct military confrontation.
\u201cWe must make plans to deal with the unjust sanctions so that we can overcome them,\u201d he said during a visit to neighbouring Iraq, accusing the U.S. and Israel of resorting to what he said was economic and \u201ccognitive\u201d warfare.
Oil prices<\/a> 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.
\u201cI\u2019m not sure why oil has popped up on this,\u201d Bessent told CNBC. \u201cIf we are doing the maximum economic pressure, then that means that likely there will not be a large-scale kinetic restart,\u201d he said, using a term referring to military force.
Thousands of people have been killed in the war, which drew in Gulf nations and shocked markets as Iran flexed its ability to curb shipping through the Strait of Hormuz \u2014 a waterway that carried about a fifth of all traded oil before February.
The U.S. and Iran have twice announced ceasefire deals<\/a>, in April and June, aiming to restore the free flow of shipping through Hormuz on a path towards ending the nearly six-month-old conflict, but both quickly crumbled.
Iran has weathered near-continuous, punishing economic sanctions for nearly 50 years, since the Islamic Revolution of 1979.
Before Bessent spoke, Iran\u2019s foreign ministry said it condemned U.S. economic and trade sanctions, calling them \u201ceconomic terrorism\u201d that would not \u201ccreate even the slightest hesitation in Iranians\u2019 determination to safeguard Iran\u2019s independence, dignity and national sovereignty.\u201d
\u201cIt is a one-two punch. We have the blockade (on Iran), and we are going to have the toughest sanctions in history,\u201d he added, referring to a U.S. naval blockade imposed on Iran in April and paused for a month in mid-June.
\u201cIt is going to work in Iran and we are going to collapse this regime. It is time for our allies and the rest of the world to make a decision,\u201d he said.
Trump is under pressure at home to end the war, with high fuel prices dragging down his approval ratings and potentially threatening his Republican Party\u2019s control of Congress in midterm elections in November.
China buys more than 80% of Iran\u2019s shipped oil, according to 2025 data from analytics firm Kpler, but engaging in further economic warfare with Beijing, a major exporter to the U.S. including of vital rare-earth minerals, risks retaliation against Washington.
When asked if the United States could target China for doing business with Iran, Bessent said many conversations were best to have in private.
\u201cKeep in mind that the Chinese get 50% (of their) energy… from the Gulf. So it would do them a big service to get with the program,\u201d he said.
China\u2019s embassy in Washington said \u201csanctions and pressure do not help resolve the problem.\u201d
\u201cChina calls on the relevant parties to take responsible actions and resolve the issue through political and diplomatic means,\u201d according to an embassy spokesperson.
Offers of Iranian crude to Chinese buyers have already declined and prices have jumped this week as the U.S. blockade on Iranian ports \u2014 reimposed on July 13 \u2014 has cut Tehran\u2019s shipments, trade sources told Reuters.
© 2026 NBCUniversal Media, LLC<\/p>\n

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news AlertsThere are no new alerts at this time Iran said on Friday that its response to any new U.S. threats would be \u201cdevastating\u201d after Washington pledged to impose the toughest financial penalties in history with the aim of toppling the Iranian leadership.U.S. Treasury chief Scott Bessent\u2019s comments on Thursday followed a warning from President […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":221549,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-221548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221548","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=221548"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221548\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/221549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=221548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=221548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=221548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}