Pakistan to hold talks in Tehran as US threatens Iran with ‘economic D-Day’

Iranian officials have said privately that further sanctions could increase hardships and reignite unrest.

DUBAI – Pakistan’s army chief flew to Tehran on a mediating mission on Aug 24 as the United States prepared to roll out “the greatest financial offensive ever” targeting Iran’s trade partners.

Iran dismissed the US threat , vowing to shut down all oil exports from the Gulf “if the economic war continues” and issued a new warning to shipping not to pass through the Strait of Hormuz without its permission.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has promised to reveal severe measures on Iran , which has endured near-continuous economic sanctions since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, when he gives a news conference on Aug 24.

“At dawn begins an economic D-Day – the single greatest financial offensive ever marshalled against an adversary,” Bessent wrote in an opinion piece published in the Financial Times on Aug 23.

Pakistan’s army chief Asim Munir, who has built a personal rapport with US President Donald Trump, arrived in Iran for talks, Iranian media said.

Pakistan said the visit was part of its efforts “to promote regional peace and stability”, and a Pakistani source said Munir was expected to meet people close to Iran’s supreme leader.

Tehran has said Oman’s foreign minister will visit on Aug 25 to discuss the Strait of Hormuz.

The US and Iran have not conducted strikes against each other’s militaries for weeks, but their last official face-to-face talks to end the six-month-old conflict took place in June, and strikes on vessels in the Strait of Hormuz have continued.

A projectile struck a tanker west of the Saudi port city of Yanbu in the Red Sea on Aug 24, causing a fire on the main deck, shipping monitors from the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said. They did not say who launched the projectile.

Iran’s Houthi allies said in July they would block Saudi oil exports diverted to the Red Sea to avoid Hormuz.

Thousands of people have died, most of them in Iran and Lebanon, since the US and Israel began strikes on Feb 28 , degrading much of Iran’s conventional military capacity and inflicting economic pain while killing Iran’s then-supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

But Iran has preserved enough missile and drone capability to attack its Gulf neighbours and threaten oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, bringing shipping in the key waterway to a near standstill and pressuring world fuel prices.

The exact state of Iran’s nuclear programme, which the Americans and Israelis aim to wipe out, remains unknown.

Oil prices slipped more than US$1 a barrel on Aug 24 as investors took profits ahead of the expected US announcement.

Without detailing specific measures, Bessent signalled the US would target “fearful nations” that practise “appeasement” by engaging with Iran’s economy and financial system.

“They would do well to consider the consequences of sustaining it,” he wrote in the Financial Times.

Iran has been bracing itself for the sanctions for days, issuing a series of strongly worded statements hinting at a major military response.

Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, suggested economic retaliation on Aug 23.

“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,” Rezaei wrote in a social media post. “Iran will regard any country’s participation in or support for America’s economic war against the Iranian people as an act of war.”

Bessent had urged China to cooperate with the US, noting China historically has received half of its oil imports from the Gulf region.

China’s foreign ministry said on Aug 24 that sanctions and pressure tactics do not help resolve issues, and that Beijing will do what is necessary to protect Chinese interests.

Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi dismissed the latest moves from Washington, which has said the measures will bring down the Iranian government, saying the US has been promising Iran’s end for 48 years, “each time under a new name”.

“Iran has remained steadfast and powerful, and only the names of the failed projects have changed,” he said on X.

Iran’s economy was already under pressure from international sanctions before the US and Israeli attacks destroyed parts of its infrastructure.

Though Tehran remains outwardly defiant, Iranian officials who spoke to Reuters have expressed concern that further economic punishment could increase hardships, reignite unrest and further erode Iran’s legitimacy.

Iran entered the war with high inflation, a weakening currency, energy shortages, sanctions and deep structural weaknesses, and must now contend with damaged infrastructure, disrupted trade, lost production and the cost of rebuilding. REUTERS