Iran FM calls Trump's economic pressure 'old US bullying tactic'
Araghchi says renewed US threats and sanctions show Washington has “no new solutions” for Iran.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has described the Trump administration's renewed economic pressure on Tehran as an "old bullying tactic" by the United States.
"Economic warfare is a recurring scenario and the same old bullying tactic in American policy," Araghchi said. "It's a familiar movie that we've seen many times, and we know how to deal with it", reports Al Jazeera.
He also said Washington's renewed military threats and warnings of possible attacks showed that the United States was "desperate in the face of the Iranian nation" and had "no new solutions".
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The comments came ahead of US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's scheduled press conference at 2pm EDT (6pm GMT) on Monday (24 August), when he is expected to announce new economic measures against Iran.
Bessent has threatened "the toughest sanctions in history" against Tehran and urged China to cooperate with Washington. China buys more than 80% of Iran's seaborne oil, according to 2025 data from analytics firm Kpler, while Beijing has called for diplomacy.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei on Saturday (22 August) described the anticipated US sanctions as an "assertion of extraterritorial sovereignty over every independent member state" of the United Nations.
"Such secondary sanctions find no foundation in international law," he said in a post on X.
Meanwhile, Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, warned that Tehran could target the interests of countries assisting the United States.
"We are telling all nearby countries not to join the US economic war, otherwise we will consider them as enemies," Rezaei said in comments to Iranian state television.
US President Donald Trump has warned of economic consequences for any country providing "any type of lifeline to Iran". On Friday, he said Washington was monitoring developments in the conflict.
"They would love to make a deal, but they're not ready to make the right deal, in my opinion," Trump said of Iran.
