ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - US President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened ‘unprecedented’ economic warfare against Iran, warning of economic consequences for countries colluding with Tehran amid threats of unleashing an economic ‘D-Day.’
“No one has given the Islamic Republic of Iran a greater opportunity to make a Deal than me. TRAGICALLY, for them, they have failed to take it,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Therefore, today, I am announcing the MOST CRUSHING ECONOMIC OPERATION EVER TAKEN AGAINST ANY COUNTRY! This will be Economic Warfare and Isolation on an unprecedented scale.”
Trump said Iran’s navy had been destroyed, its air force was “destroyed,” its military factories were “now rubble,” and its currency was “worthless,” adding that the country was “hanging by a thread.”
Trump’s announcement came a day after he declared a ‘100 percent’ success rate on US naval blockade of Iranian ports following US Central Command (CENTCOM) having reported the interception of 70 vessels since Washington reinstated the maritime blockade in mid-July.
“The blockade has been 100 percent successful; no boats have gotten to Iran, but they’re getting to other places,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Wednesday, adding, “I think the Hormuz Strait is not going to be as quite as important as it was in the past.”
CENTCOM said Wednesday that US forces had “redirected 65 commercial vessels, disabled 3 and boarded 2 to ensure compliance” since the reinstatement of the US blockade against Iranian ports.
The Strait of Hormuz, through which around one-fifth of global oil supplies pass, has remained a flashpoint between Washington and Tehran since the outbreak of the six-week war in late February, when the US and Israel launched a joint aerial campaign striking thousands of targets across Iran.
In response, Tehran carried out thousands of drone and missile strikes across the Middle East, targeting alleged US assets, particularly in Gulf Arab states, while also launching retaliatory strikes against Israel.
The two sides reached a preliminary ceasefire mediated by Pakistan in early April, followed by the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding signed between the two sides in mid-June, establishing a ceasefire on all fronts.
However, the warring sides exchanged several rounds of strikes and counterstrikes after the truce, with the latest escalation beginning on July 8 and continuing until later that month. Washington also reinstated its naval blockade of Iranian ports in July.
“There are no talks or conversations going on, or scheduled, with the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Trump posted on Truth Social on Tuesday, adding that the naval blockade “remains in full force and effect.”
He further said the strategic Strait of Hormuz remained “open and operating” and that all water mines planted by Iranian forces “have been removed or detonated.”
Iran’s chief negotiator and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said Tuesday that normalizing shipping through the Strait of Hormuz would not happen “until the United States lifts its blockade, ends sanctions, and releases frozen assets of the Islamic Republic,” the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported.
Ghalibaf also accused Trump of “backing down” from the Pakistan-brokered MoU with Tehran, with IRNA quoting him as saying that the US failure to comply with the agreement amounted to a “massive diplomatic defeat for Washington.”
Meanwhile, Iran and Oman have been engaged in separate negotiations to reopen the strait. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei told reporters Monday that “an understanding has been reached regarding the map of the transit route” with Muscat, pending an official statement once technical details are finalized.
However, when asked about those negotiations by Fox News on Monday, Trump warned that “if Oman gets in the way,” it too would be targeted, adding, “I don't think they behaved very well, but we'd handle them very easily, just like we do other things.”
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