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Sanctions and Hormuz
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said Friday that the war between the U.S. and Iran should end because “The entire world approved our victory and the U.S. is hated,” as the U.S. prepares new economic sanctions expected next week.
““The entire world approved our victory and the U.S. is hated,””
The U.S. is preparing to ramp up economic sanctions on Tehran, with further details set to be announced Monday, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said it will be “the toughest sanctions in history.”
In parallel, oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz have been effectively halted, with Reuters describing the waterway as bottled up and CNN reporting that the number of ships using the strait stands at 20% of the pre-war average.
Iran’s state media reported the country will allow Iraqi oil tankers to travel through the critical waterway, while Reuters said Iran granted permission for a number of Iraqi oil tankers after repeated requests from Baghdad.
CNN also reported that Greek-owned supertanker Kiku has been seen going dark by turning off its AIS transponders and traveling at night to go undetected as it tries to pass through the Strait of Hormuz.
Defiance and accusations
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei rejected the U.S. sanctions plan as an “assertion of extraterritorial sovereignty over every independent Member State of the United Nations,” as the U.S. and Iran exchanged defiant messages ahead of Monday’s scheduled announcement.
Baqaei added that “Such secondary sanctions find no foundation in international law,” while the U.S. warned it was observing “what happens” in the conflict and threatened economic consequences for any nation that provides “any type of lifeline to Iran.”
A close ally of Iran’s supreme leader, Hossein Taeb, told Fars News Agency that President Donald Trump’s rhetoric stems from “desperation,” vowing Iran “will not submit.”
Taeb also said Iran would not reopen the critical Strait of Hormuz unless “our conditions are fulfilled,” as CNN reported the U.S. is preparing further economic squeeze on Tehran.
In Baghdad, Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf told an event that Muslim countries must make a plan to overcome “cruel” sanctions, according to a government summary of his comments.
What’s at stake next
The U.S. says its sanctions campaign is meant to force Iran to change course, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC that the Trump administration will create “the greatest coordinated economic isolation in the history of the world” against Iran.
““the greatest coordinated economic isolation in the history of the world””
Reuters reported that U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said the U.S. military helped move a seven-day average of 8 million barrels a day of oil through the strait, down from more than 20 million per day before the war.
Iran’s armed forces chief of staff, Major General Ali Abdollahi, promised on Friday that Iran would respond to enemy threats militarily with “crushing, punishing and devastating responses,” while Reuters said Tehran maintains enough missile and drone capability to impede oil tanker traffic and attack regional rivals.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian called for a diplomatic solution, saying “It would be better to end the war today, when we are powerful and have dignity,” as the U.S. prepares to intensify economic pressure.
The BBC framed the central question for Washington as whether further sanctions can work where other strategies have failed, with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent promising to reveal the mechanics of the new economic pressure campaign in a news conference on 24 August.