Iran’s new security chief warns neighbours against joining US ‘economic war’
Mohsen Rezaei says any country backing the US in choking Iran’s economy will be considered an ‘enemy’, warns America of attack on oil and economic companies
The new leader of Iran's top security body has threatened its neighbours against joining fresh US efforts to squeeze Tehran's economy.
Mohsen Rezaei, the new hardline leader of Iran’s supreme national security council, has said that Iran would target oil-shipping routes out of the Persian Gulf – acting as alternatives to the Strait of Hormuz – if its neighbours joined the “economic war” waged against Tehran by the Donald Trump-led administration.
Warning to neighbours
He said such neighbours would be “considered an enemy” and Iran will “target their interests”.
Rezaei also accused the United States of increasing global nuclear insecurity with months of war.
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“If (Trump) wants to do something, we will retaliate in a seismic manner,” he said in an interview with the state broadcaster that aired Saturday (August 22).
Rezaei was named this month as part of senior appointments widely seen as hardening Tehran's political and military stance. His interview with IRIB is his most extensive public statement since then.
US President Trump in the past week has vowed to increase Iran's pain by imposing an “unprecedented” level of economic warfare and isolation. Iran has lived under sanctions for years.
Ultimatum to US govt
Rezaei said discussions with Oman, located on the other side of the strait, over management of it were ongoing, and said fees would be imposed. Iran asserted control over what was seen as an international waterway shortly after the US and Israel attacked on February 28.
He said Iran so far has only targeted US military bases and said that it will attack US oil and economic companies if America goes ahead with the economic sanctions against it.
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“So far, we have only targeted military bases, but if they want to impose economic sanctions on us, the United States has oil and economic companies around Iran and elsewhere, and we will strike them,” he said in the interview.
Rezaei also vowed to make changes to Iran's diplomacy and bring new capabilities to what he called the next war. He warned the US against sending more military personnel to the region, and said the US had increased nuclear insecurity because countries see that participating in international monitoring efforts, as Iran has done, is no protection against attack.