{"id":222065,"date":"2026-08-26T17:09:46","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T17:09:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/iran-vows-retaliation-after-u-s-widens-sanctions-fueling-fears-of-escalated-war-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2026-08-26T17:09:46","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T17:09:46","slug":"iran-vows-retaliation-after-u-s-widens-sanctions-fueling-fears-of-escalated-war-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/iran-vows-retaliation-after-u-s-widens-sanctions-fueling-fears-of-escalated-war-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran vows retaliation after U.S. widens sanctions, fueling fears of escalated war – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

BREAKING: Tim Curry, star of \u2018Rocky Horror Picture Show\u2019 and \u2018It,\u2019 dies at 80<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

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TEHRAN, Iran \u2014 <\/strong>Iran <\/a>has vowed to retaliate against widened U.S. sanctions<\/a>, saying Washington should \u201cexpect an attack\u201d in response.
\u201cWe know how to play the game, too,\u201d Iranian Economy Minister Ali Madanizadeh<\/a> said in an interview televised by state media late Monday as he condemned the U.S. measures as an \u201ceconomic terrorist attack.\u201d
The U.S. has imposed sanctions on Iran since 1979, after Iranian students stormed the American Embassy in Tehran, taking U.S. diplomats hostage.
Madanizadeh said at least two countries \u2014 China and Russia \u2014 have so far given no indication that they plan to fall into line. At a news conference Tuesday, <\/strong>Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said Beijing was firmly opposed to \u201cillegal unilateral sanctions,\u201d according to Xinhua, China\u2019s state-run news agency.
Madanizadeh warned that \u201cthey should not think that our response will be defensive and that we will only defend ourselves.\u201d He added, \u201cThey should expect an attack from our side, as well.\u201d
Madanizadeh did not specify what sort of attack. <\/strong>
He added that Tehran had been preparing for such an economic assault and that it had a two-year plan in the works to deal with the impact, which he did not expand on.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced<\/a> the fresh battery of measures against Iran on Monday, calling it an \u201ceconomic D-Day\u201d and warning that any country financially partnering with Tehran would be isolated. The U.S. stopped short of imposing actual penalties.
Bessent provided limited details about the measures and did not identify countries that could be targeted with secondary sanctions. He said President Donald Trump was \u201cmaking phone calls to world leaders with specific requests to cease their interactions with the regime.\u201d
The Treasury Department confirmed Monday that it had launched Operation Economic Outcast. It said in a news release<\/a> that it was expanding the categories of Iran-related conduct that could be subject to secondary sanctions, with determinations issued against \u201cfive critical sectors \u2014 digital assets, technology, gold, aviation, and shipping.\u201d
It added that the Office of Foreign Assets Control had also sanctioned nearly 60 entities, people and vessels in multiple jurisdictions that it said \u201cenable the Iranian regime\u2019s recklessness,\u201d in addition to other measures.
The <\/strong>United Arab Emirates, which has long maintained close economic ties with Iran, announced last week that it would be halting<\/a> all financial transactions with Tehran.
On the ground in Tehran, some Iranians expressed resignation at the U.S. announcement, which Bessent described as \u201cthe single greatest financial offensive ever\u201d<\/a> against Iran.
\u201cIt\u2019s nothing new,\u201d Farzin, 27, a mechanic, told NBC News on Tuesday. \u201cThe country is already locked, and the psychological effect is worse than the actual outcome.\u201d
Farzin said U.S. sanctions had yet to yield any significant impact on his business, with car parts still making their way into the country.
\u201cYou find a route and you find a market inside the country,\u201d he said, adding that many parts were being imported through land borders, whether legally or illegally.
Farzin declined to give his last name. Many Iranians are wary of speaking with and identifying themselves to U.S. media.
Hamid Ebrahimi, a retired lawyer and university professor, said many Iranians felt there was little they could do to make their lives any better.
\u201cWe are just getting by day to day and can\u2019t keep up with inflation,\u201d said Ebrahimi, 63. \u201cSanctions have had an effect, and the government says it can manage them, but they have always hurt the people, and they will continue to do so.\u201d
Andreas Krieg, a senior lecturer at King\u2019s College London\u2019s School of Security Studies, said Washington\u2019s latest moves were unlikely to achieve the desired results.
\u201cIran\u2019s response so far suggests Washington\u2019s \u2018Economic D-Day\u2019 is producing pain, but not the behavioral effect the administration is looking for,\u201d he said.
Tehran appeared to be interpreting the measures as \u201ceconomic warfare\u201d aimed at its \u201cregime survival rather than as bargaining pressure designed to produce a compromise,\u201d Krieg added.
As a result, its response \u201chas consequently been defiance rather than accommodation.\u201d
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said in comments the semiofficial Tasnim news agency published Monday that the U.S. \u201cmust correct its tone and approach in dealing with Iran, because relying on force and bullying will only complicate the process.\u201d
Krieg said the global community could expect Tehran to increase pressure on the Strait of Hormuz<\/a>, the crucial trade route through which 20% of the world\u2019s oil ran before the war, which began in late February after the U.S. and Israel launched punishing strikes on Iran.
The stated reason <\/strong>for waging war was to prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon. Tehran has long denied it is seeking to build a nuclear arsenal.
Since then, the key waterway has largely been strangled by a blockade imposed by Iran, sending energy prices soaring<\/a>, with the U.S. also launching its own blockade in Iranian ports in response to Iranian attacks along the strait. Hormuz was open and without tolls when the U.S. and Israel triggered the war.
\u201cTehran cannot prevent Washington from imposing sanctions, but it can make those sanctions expensive for everybody else,\u201d Krieg said.
Meanwhile, Iranian media have repeatedly aired content threatening the life <\/a>of Trump\u2019s son Barron Trump, fueling fears over the escalating rhetoric surrounding the conflict.
U.S. Secret Service spokesperson Nate Herring said Monday that the agency was \u201caware of the video and investigates anything that can be perceived as a threat toward our protectees.\u201d
\u201cOut of concern for operational security, we do not discuss matters of protective intelligence,\u201d Herring added.
Chantal Da Silva reports on world news for NBC News Digital and is based in London.
© 2026 NBCUniversal Media, LLC<\/p>\n

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BREAKING: Tim Curry, star of \u2018Rocky Horror Picture Show\u2019 and \u2018It,\u2019 dies at 80 news AlertsThere are no new alerts at this timeTEHRAN, Iran \u2014 Iran has vowed to retaliate against widened U.S. sanctions, saying Washington should \u201cexpect an attack\u201d in response.\u201cWe know how to play the game, too,\u201d Iranian Economy Minister Ali Madanizadeh said […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":222066,"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-222065","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\/222065","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=222065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222065\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/222066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=222065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=222065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=222065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}