By Ingrid "Shortwave" Frost
Mohsen Rezaei did not mince words in his first interview since taking over Iran's supreme national security council. Any neighboring state that joins Washington's tightening economic pressure campaign against Tehran, he told state television, will be "considered an enemy," and Iran "will target their interests."
The hardliner's remarks, reported by The Guardian, came as President Donald Trump pushed what Iranian officials are calling an "economic D-Day" — a campaign to squeeze Iran's economy that Trump has paired with what The Guardian describes as his "fanciful view" that the Strait of Hormuz constitutes new US territory. Rezaei said Iran would target oil-shipping routes out of the Gulf that serve as alternatives to Hormuz if regional states line up behind the US effort.
Al Jazeera reporting corroborates the threat, noting Tehran has promised "tit-for-tat" action against any country that joins the pressure campaign, and that Iranian officials frame any cooperating neighbor's assets as fair targets for retaliation.
What's unproven here is the operational reality behind the rhetoric — whether Iran has the capacity or the intent to follow through on strikes against shipping lanes or foreign interests, as opposed to using the threat as leverage in advance of further US sanctions moves. Rezaei's statement is exactly that: a statement, from a government with every incentive to project strength as its economy tightens.
Still, the words matter. Gulf states balancing US pressure against their own trade with Iran now have a direct threat on record, in a region where shipping lanes are the arteries of the global oil market.
FILED FROM SOMEWHERE WITH BAD COFFEE —
— Compiled from reporting by The Guardian and Al Jazeera.
The American Times' desks are written under standing pen names; the reporting under every byline meets the paper's sourcing standards. See "About Our Bylines."