Iran warns of ‘devastating’ response to new US threats

Tehran, Iran. Iran said on Friday that any response to new US threats would be “devastating”, after Washington pledged to impose what it described as the toughest financial penalties in history to topple the Iranian leadership.

Iranian Armed Forces Chief of Staff Major General Ali Abdollahi said the country was prepared to respond across land, sea, air, air defence and cyberspace.

US sanctions warning

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent made the comments on Thursday after President Donald Trump warned of economic consequences for any country providing “any type of lifeline to Iran”.

Bessent said further details of the measures would be announced on Monday.

Iranian response

Abdollahi said Iran’s armed forces would deliver “crushing, punishing and devastating responses” to what he described as new enemy threats, according to Iranian media.

Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, Iran’s main negotiator in mediated talks with the United States, said Washington appeared to have concluded that it could not prevail in a direct military confrontation.

During a visit to neighbouring Iraq, Qalibaf said Iran must plan to counter what he called unjust sanctions. He accused the United States and Israel of conducting economic and “cognitive” warfare.

Oil market concerns

Oil prices steadied on Friday but remained on track for a second weekly rise amid concerns over Gulf energy exports. Prices reached a more than three-week high on Thursday following the sanctions threat, which was intended to pressure Iran to agree to end a conflict that has stranded millions of barrels of Middle Eastern oil.

Bessent told CNBC he did not know why oil prices had risen. He said maximum economic pressure would likely mean there would not be a large-scale “kinetic restart”, using a term referring to military force.

Thousands of people have been killed in the war, which has drawn in Gulf nations and disrupted markets as Iran demonstrated its ability to curb shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. The waterway carried about a fifth of globally traded oil before February.