Iran vows economic resilience as US ramps up sanctions pressure, denies active talks

Iran’s leadership pushed back forcefully on Thursday against an intensifying American sanctions campaign, with senior officials insisting Tehran will withstand the pressure even as the White House said no active negotiations are taking place between the two countries.

Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said Iran faces what he called an all out economic war, and expressed confidence that the government, working alongside the private sector, the public and other branches of state, would defeat the enemy on that front as well. Ghalibaf made the comments in a message marking the start of Government Week on August 24, emphasizing the need for national unity and cooperation across government branches to overcome the country’s mounting challenges. He said backing the government does not mean ignoring its shortcomings, but rather trusting it to serve the public better, adding that officials have taken effective steps to keep the country running despite the economic toll of the war and continue working to address remaining weaknesses.

President Masoud Pezeshkian echoed that defiance, saying the United States would achieve nothing through economic pressure at this stage, just as it failed to achieve its objectives during the military phase of the conflict. He said Iran would continue standing firm against economic pressure as it has done throughout the crisis.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi went further, formally declaring that Washington bears international responsibility for damages caused by its unilateral sanctions and must provide full compensation, including restitution and reparations. In a message to the United Nations and the Security Council, Araghchi described the American measures as an economic terrorism campaign carried out through unlawful coercive measures. He said Iran reserves the right to pursue accountability and compensation through all available means and warned that the campaign could carry individual criminal responsibility for those involved if the relevant legal elements are established. Araghchi called on the Security Council and member states to reject Washington’s use of unilateral sanctions to pressure sovereign nations into altering their legitimate trade relationships, and he urged UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to assess and report on the humanitarian impact of the measures, including their effect on civilian access to food, medicine, health care, energy and humanitarian aid.

The diplomatic pushback comes as Iran grapples with a worsening domestic fuel shortage tied directly to the ongoing US naval blockade. Vice President Mohammad Jafar Ghaempanah said domestic petrol production remains insufficient and that the blockade has made it impossible to import enough fuel to cover the gap, a situation that has left many Iranians queuing outside petrol stations in recent days.

Regional diplomacy around the conflict continued in parallel. Qatar’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani traveled to Tehran on Thursday in an effort to revive mediation efforts, according to Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei. Qatar has served as a back channel negotiator throughout the conflict and played a direct role in securing a June ceasefire that briefly paused hostilities before it collapsed. Qatari officials said the visit would address freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz and the need to restore conditions that existed before the war began on February 28, alongside broader efforts to ease tensions and create space for renewed dialogue.

The strait remains a central point of contention. Oil flows through Hormuz have dropped to a three month low, with just 5 million barrels per day transiting the waterway on Monday, according to recent ship tracking data, compared with roughly 20 million barrels per day before the war. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Wednesday that Tehran and Oman had agreed on how to divide the waterway and any revenue from managing it, though a senior Iranian source later told a news agency that key details of the agreement remained unresolved. A spokesperson for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps separately said the two countries had reached results acceptable to both sides, while maintaining that the strait would stay closed unless Washington meets Iran’s conditions under the collapsed June memorandum of understanding, including ending the naval blockade, providing compensation and lifting sanctions.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency said an unidentified projectile struck a tanker in the strait early Thursday, sparking a fire that was later extinguished with all crew members reported safe. The UN’s International Maritime Organization has recorded 70 incidents in the strait since February 28 that have killed 19 seafarers, while thousands more people have died overall, mostly in Iran and Lebanon, since the United States and Israel launched their campaign against Iran with the stated aims of preventing it from acquiring a nuclear weapon, supporting an uprising against its government and dismantling its missile program.

Direct fighting has largely paused, with US Central Command reporting no strikes on Iran for nearly a month, as Washington shifts its strategy toward economic pressure by threatening expanded sanctions on Iran’s trading partners. Despite the lull in strikes, military activity continued elsewhere in the region. Israeli warplanes carried out fresh airstrikes in southern Lebanon early Thursday, striking woodland near Nabatieh al Fawqa and an area between the towns of Zawtar al Sharqiyah and Mayfadoun, according to Lebanon’s state news agency. Israel has continued operations in Lebanon since launching a new offensive on March 2. Separately, an air defense system operated by Greek military personnel in Saudi Arabia intercepted a swarm of drones near the oil refining hub of Yanbu, the third time the Greek operated battery has been used in combat since the war began, according to Greek security sources, highlighting the growing role European allies are playing in defending Gulf energy infrastructure.

In Washington, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday that no negotiations are currently underway between the United States and Iran, though she told a television interviewer that all options remain on the table.

The combination of stalled diplomacy, an unresolved dispute over the Strait of Hormuz and an intensifying economic pressure campaign suggests the conflict is entering a new phase focused less on direct military confrontation and more on a prolonged contest over sanctions, trade and regional influence, with mediators such as Qatar and Oman continuing to search for an opening that has so far proven elusive.