Iran’s leaders have threatened to halt all oil exports from the Persian Gulf and to treat any nation’s support for U.S. sanctions against Iran as an “act of war.” The threat came ahead of today’s announcement by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent of what the Trump administration is calling an “economic D-Day” aimed at completely severing Iran’s remaining financial lifelines. This is Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.

Abbas Araghchi: “This is a repetitive scenario, from the crippling sanctions imposed during the Obama administration to the maximum-pressure campaign during Trump’s first administration and now the latest sanctions. All of these measures have been introduced under different titles, but they represent the same kind of bullying that we have always seen in American policy. In other words, it is the same movie they keep playing over and over again. We know this movie, so we know how to confront and deal with it.”

On Sunday, Iran’s currency, the rial, sank to a record low against the U.S. dollar. The International Monetary Fund now predicts Iran’s economy will contract by nearly 5.5% this year. Fuel prices are surging in Iran — something that preceded nationwide protests in 2019 and earlier this year.