Iran’s ability to export fresh crude has fallen close to zero under the US maritime blockade, according to Kpler, just as Washington begins targeting the foreign banking networks Tehran relies on to collect the proceeds.
Mohsen Rezaei on Friday set out four Iranian conditions for an agreement with the United States, another sign that the former IRGC commander who once championed an “offensive doctrine” may be moving from advocating war to contemplating a deal at the right price.
The US Treasury moved Friday to cut the UAE branches of Egypt’s Banque Misr off from direct access to the US financial system over alleged dealings with Iran, marking the first major action in Washington’s new “Economic D-Day” campaign against Tehran.
Iranian banks and businesses continue to operate in Dubai despite Washington’s demand that countries sever their remaining economic links with Tehran, exposing the difficulty of isolating Iran from one of its most important commercial hubs, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Persian Gulf states are accelerating billions of dollars in investment in ports, pipelines and railways to reduce their dependence on the Strait of Hormuz after months of disruption during the Iran war, Reuters reported Friday.
Iran will target US economic interests if Washington maintains its maritime blockade, Supreme National Security Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaei said Thursday, as the Trump administration steps up efforts to tighten Iran’s economic isolation.
Three regional mediators have visited Tehran in three days in an intensifying diplomatic push to revive Iran-US talks, even as the two sides remain deeply divided over the Strait of Hormuz and Washington’s economic pressure campaign.
Iranian officials acknowledged mounting economic strain on Wednesday, and in the same breath restated their conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, as Donald Trump said he was in no hurry to resume talks.
Regional diplomacy around Iran appears to be gathering pace, with Pakistan, Oman and potentially Qatar seeking to turn an emerging agreement over the Strait of Hormuz into a path back to negotiations between Tehran and Washington.
Iran allegedly plotted to assassinate Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s eldest son, Yair, while he was living in South Florida, Newsmax reported on Wednesday, citing a US law enforcement source familiar with the matter.
Mohsen Rezaei’s threats to halt Iranian oil exports, target countries cooperating with the United States and comments suggesting a possible nuclear shift have triggered a debate in Tehran over his authority to outline such policies as tensions escalate.
Iranian state television has broadcast a segment describing efforts to reach President Donald Trump’s son Barron and referring to a $10 million reward, an unusually explicit threat against a member of the US president’s immediate family.
Iran’s leadership may see an end to the war as necessary under mounting US economic pressure, but that does not mean Tehran will heed Washington’s demands, experts say, warning that the pressure could instead drive it toward further escalation.
Iran’s top security official has suggested Tehran could reconsider its longstanding rejection of nuclear weapons, arguing that US attacks on Iran have strengthened the case for acquiring an atomic bomb as a deterrent.
Warnings from senior Iranian officials about the cost of prolonging the war are increasingly converging with Washington’s central pressure point: whether Iran can economically sustain the conflict.
Yemen’s Houthis have become a more effective ally for Iran than Hezbollah, using Iranian support and their strategic Red Sea position to pursue both Tehran’s interests and their own agenda, Yemen analyst Mohammad al-Basha told Iran International.
President Donald Trump said Wednesday the Strait of Hormuz was open and the US blockade of Iran had been “100% successful,” as media reports indicated Tehran had lost significant control over traffic through the waterway.
For years, diplomacy between Iran and the United States has largely been conducted through a familiar group of intermediaries.
Gas stations in parts of Tehran closed after running out of fuel Wednesday, while motorists elsewhere in the Iranian capital waited up to an hour to fill their tanks amid mounting fears of a fuel price hike, locals told Iran International.
The 60-day period associated with the Iran-US interim peace deal ended Monday without a breakthrough, with Washington rejecting an extension and a senior Iranian official saying the US had a few weeks to meet the agreement’s terms before further talks.
Iraqi Kurdistan President Nechirvan Barzani played a role in relaying messages between the United States and Iran and in efforts to ease tensions, a spokesperson confirmed to Iran International on Sunday.
Qatar on Saturday dismissed the Iranian military’s claim that it had detained and held three pilots from two Su-24 bombers shot down in March, saying it recovered only one pilot’s remains and had invited Tehran to review the search.