WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump has warned that countries providing financial, commercial or other support to Iran could face “tremendous economic consequences,” as he announced what he described as the most severe economic operation ever imposed against a country.
In a statement shared on Truth Social, Trump said any country whose financial institutions, businesses, airports or government entities provide Iran with what he called a “lifeline” would face economic consequences.
Trump said the measures would target activities including oil smuggling, financial swap lines, cash transfers, exchange houses, ship registries and front companies. He called the campaign “economic warfare and isolation on an unprecedented scale.”
“No one has given the Islamic Republic of Iran a greater opportunity to make a Deal than me,” Trump said, adding that Iran had failed to take the opportunity.
Trump also claimed that Iran’s navy had been eliminated, its air force destroyed and its military factories reduced to rubble. He said the Iranian currency was “worthless” and described the country as “hanging by a thread.”
He urged US allies to support Washington’s effort to isolate Iran, calling the planned measures an “Economic D-Day.”
Trump said the measures were intended to weaken Iran’s ability to project what he described as terror worldwide.
He also reiterated his position that Iran must never obtain a nuclear weapon, declaring: “IRAN WILL NEVER HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON.”
On the other hand Iranian media slammed Trump’s economic threats as “grand exaggerated language”
The semi-official Tasnim news agency described the measures as another version of Washington’s failed “maximum pressure” campaign, dismissing Trump’s rhetoric as “grand, exaggerated language”.
Iran’s Fars news described Trump’s claims as “delusional”.
