Bloomberg columnist Eric Martin warned yesterday that Trump’s effort to economically isolate Iran in order to force it to settle the conflict on U.S. terms risks an escalation of the war because it increases the likelihood that Iran will strike back militarily. “But like other U.S. efforts to force Iran into capitulation, there’s one main problem: Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which has claimed control of the vital Strait of Hormuz and sent volleys of attack drones across the Persian Gulf, may be impervious to such pressure—and has plenty of ways to retaliate,” Martin writes in a column posted by The Los Angeles Times. “Yet significant new economic pressure is likely to prompt Iran to retaliate with military strikes across the gulf—including against energy infrastructure—in an attempt to push up oil prices and raise the cost of the U.S. effort, forcing Trump to shift his approach once again,” he adds later.
Indeed, the Iranians are already saying they will not allow the US to end the war on its terms and are warning that any government that joins the US effort to economically squeeze Iran will be regarded as an enemy.
“We will not show any appeasement towards the aggressors ... the Islamic Republic of Iran did not start the war and has defended its own rights, territorial integrity and national sovereignty. Naturally, the aggressor must be held accountable. We certainly did not start the war, but we will not allow the end of the war to be based on the aggressor’s terms,” Baqaei told reporters this morning.
Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council warned yesterday that Tehran will regard any country’s participation in or support for America’s economic pressure campaign against the Iranian people as an act of war. “If the economic war continues, not a single drop of oil will be exported neither through the Strait of Hormuz nor from anywhere in the Persian Gulf,” he said on X on Sunday. “Iran will regard any country’s participation in or support for America’s economic war against the Iranian people as an act of war,” he added.