Iran21 August, 20263 min read
Ahmad Vahidi Says Iran Built A Solid Defensive Shield As Trump Launches Economic Pressure
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Iran says its defence industry relies on domestic resources, strengthening deterrence. IRGC chief says Iran built a solid defensive shield against external threats.
8 outlets told this the same way.
Outlets did split on Iran Reviews US Negotiation Proposals As Pakistan And Qatar Mediate Strait Of Hormuz Dispute →
Shield vs Economic Pressure
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps chief Ahmad Vahidi said Iran has built what he described as a "solid defensive shield" against external threats as tensions with the United States remain high. Vahidi made the claim in a message to Iran's Defence Ministry chief marking National Defence Industry Day, saying Iran was facing new forms of "combined and military aggression". The remarks came as US President Donald Trump announced a major new economic pressure campaign against Iran, describing it as the "most crushing economic operation ever taken" and warning that Washington would target Iran's economic lifelines.
Trump wrote on Truth Social that "Oil smuggling, swap lines, cash transfers, exchange houses, ship registries, front companies -- It all needs to stop now," and called the campaign an "Economic D-Day". Iran’s Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi rejected the US approach, writing on X that previous US sanctions campaigns had "Failed" and that the latest measures were "Bound to fail".
Threats, Readiness, and Rebuttals
Iran warned that its armed forces would deliver a "crushing, regrettable and devastating" response to any miscalculation or conventional and emerging threats as the US prepares its economic campaign against Tehran. NDTV Profit said Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces Major General Ali Abdollahi, in a message marking Iran's Defence Industry Day, described Iran’s armed forces as maintaining readiness across land, sea, air defence, space and cyber domains. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned that continuing to do business with Tehran could bring economic consequences, telling allies and other countries, "You're either with us or against us," and vowing Washington would use its "full might and force".
Bessent was also quoted by CNBC saying, "This is going to be the greatest coordinated economic isolation in the history of the world," while Trump described the planned measures as an "ECONOMIC D-DAY". Tehran dismissed the threats, with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi describing the so-called "economic D-Day" as a "diversion from America's own crisis" in remarks to Al Jazeera.
Deterrence Messaging and Stakes
Ahead of Defence Industry Day on August 21, Iran’s Ministry of Defence said the fighting in the Persian Gulf region had served as a testing ground for Iran's defence industry and demonstrated the need for the Islamic Republic to make effective use of its domestic resources. The ministry stated that "every new pressure or sanction" underscored the need to rely on domestic resources, while "every area opened up new opportunities" for the country’s specialists. In separate Defence Industry Day messaging, Major General Amir Hatami, commander-in-chief of the army, said the defence industry’s battlefield performance had led enemies to reassess their calculations and accept a political understanding and solution.
Hatami said, "A nation that builds a defensive shield with the capable hands of its own children will not only not surrender, but will undoubtedly be victorious," and he linked the armed forces’ combat prowess to the defence industry’s capacities. The stakes in the sources were framed through Iran’s insistence on deterrence and domestic capability, while the US side pressed for economic isolation through measures Bessent described as aiming to "collapse this regime" and Trump called "Economic D-Day".