Iranian Official Urges 'Economic Jihad' Ahead of US Measures

Iran's new security chief has delivered a warning to neighboring Gulf states: Join Washington's latest squeeze on Tehran, and your oil exports could be next. Mohsen Rezaei said that any country helping President Trump's threatened "Economic D-Day" would be treated as an enemy and risk seeing its crude blocked not just at the Strait of Hormuz, but from "the Persian Gulf at all." The comments mark his first major public stance since taking the position two weeks ago, the New York Times reports, and align with what analysts consider a broader shift in Tehran's strategy from mostly defensive moves to more assertive regional pressure.

The military strikes and counterstrikes have eased, but the US and Iran are still in an economic standoff. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is to announce the new economic plan against Iran on Monday. Iran's president said the memorandum of understanding agreed to by the US in June is the best way out of the confrontation, per the AP. "There is not a single provision in this agreement that amounts to capitulation," President Masoud Pezeshkian said in a speech published by state-run IRNA early Sunday. Rezaei urged Iranians to wage an "economic jihad" and turn "every home" into a front in the economic fight.