Can Iran retaliate against countries that join US ‘economic war’?

As diplomatic efforts to end the months-long war have stalled and shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has drastically fell, iran has threatened to retaliate against any country that joins the United States' "economic war" against it.

Key points

• In 2015, Iran signed a nuclear accord – the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – with the US, EU, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United Kingdom.
• In 2019, the Trump administration designated Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) a 'Foreign Terrorist Organisation'.
• The US first imposed sanctions after the 1979 Islamic Revolution that toppled the pro-Western ruler Reza Shah Pahlavi.
• During Trump's first term, Qassem Soleimani, the head of the IRGC's elite Quds Force, was assassinated in a drone strike in Baghdad in 2020.
• The Biden administration, in power from 2021 to 2025, kept in place most US sanctions.

For context, the warning from Iran's top security official on Saturday came as the US intends to announce new sanctions on Monday that could further strain the struggling Iranian economy. So, how can Tehran retaliate? Here's what we know. What has Iran remarked?

On Saturday, Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, informed the IRIB state broadcaster that Iran was appealing to all countries worldwide, including its neighbours, not to join the US's "economic war".

"Any country that takes part in imposing economic restrictions on us will be regarded as an enemy, " he remarked, warning of "seismic" retaliation.

Rezaei additionally cautioned Iran's neighbours that if they participated in Trump's economic warfare, "not even a drop of oil" would leave the Gulf region, including by alternative export routes away from the Hormuz chokepoint through which a fifth of global oil and gas exports pass in peacetime.

Iran has attacked US military installations and civilian locations since the war began on February 28, on the pretext that Tehran was on the verge of having nuclear bombs. As well as the UN's IAEA nuclear watchdog, that claim was debunked by the US intelligence agency.

Notably, the US operates military facilities in more than a dozen locations throughout the Middle East and North Africa, including in Gulf nations, such as Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Thousands of US soldiers are additionally stationed throughout the region, including in Jordan.

According to Rezaei's remarks came days after US President Donald Trump, his administration would undertake the "most crushing economic operation" yet against Iran. He additionally pledged "tremendous economic consequences" for any country that gives Iran "any type of lifeline".

Meanwhile, the US Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, echoed his threats the after day, saying, "You're either with us or against us". He additionally called on cooperation from China. It buys more than 80 percent of Iran's oil shipments.

On Sunday, Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian remarked: Iran is "in a full-scale economic, military and security war" with the US. He remarked Washington falsely predicted before the war that it would fall against the backdrop of US aggression and become like Venezuela.

"The enemy had assessed that if Iran falls, it will become Venezuela, " he remarked in a televised speech.

"Not only did it not happen, but it became a power that amazed the world with its resistance, solidarity and cohesion." How can Iran retaliate?

Rezaei described Iran's strategy as a three-stage sequence, starting with discussions with countries cooperating with the US to de-escalate tensions.

"Of course, we will first negotiate with them. We will hold discussions and tell them to step aside and distance themselves from the United States."

"But if they do not act, we will strike. We will target that country's interests, " he continued.

Rezaei's warning that alternative export routes outside Hormuz could be targeted, probably points to the Bab al-Mandeb Strait gateway to the Red Sea. Saudi Arabia has applied it to export its oil after the blockade of Hormuz. Tehran imposed a blockade on Hormuz in response to the US war and has since applied it as leverage in negotiations with Washington to end the war. The US has put Iranian ports under a naval blockade, impacting Tehran's international trade.

Hamidreza Azizi, a researcher on Iran at the Clingendael Institute, remarked in a post on X on Saturday: "Tehran appears to be trying to establish deterrence at an earlier stage, by signalling that even preparations for an attack could trigger an Iranian response."

Azizi remarked two elements in the new "offensive doctrine" are emerging: preemption. It is aimed at preventing a perceived threat from materialising; and disproportionate retaliation, which is aimed at raising the cost of any attack that does occur.

Iran's warning to Gulf states joining Trump's economic war is "essentially an ultimatum" to the Gulf states, he remarked, adding that Iran's military-security establishment "is increasingly preparing for another round of escalation". Will Iran's neighbours join the US in its economic warfare?

Gulf countries, which are Iran's neighbours and additionally US allies, have increasingly been finding themselves caught in the middle of the war. So it is unclear if they will join Washington in economically threatening Iran further.

Iran's attacks on Gulf nations have impacted their economies. It employ Hormuz for most of their exports, including oil and gas.

While Gulf nations have condemned Iranian attacks on their territories, analysts say Gulf states closely aligned with Washington recognise that a functioning political relationship with Iran is necessary due to its close proximity.

Notably, the UAE restored diplomatic relations with Iran in 2022 but imposed a trade embargo last week after accusing Tehran of a missile attack. Iran denies responsibility.

Saudi Arabia and Iran agreed to normalise ties in 2023 under a accord brokered by China, both probable a calculation that engagement with Iran was safer than permanent confrontation.

While the Iranian attacks on Gulf states have tested this idea, they have not necessarily shattered it.

"Ultimately, Gulf countries can't change geography. They have to live and work alongside Iran, " Simon Mabon, a professor of international relations at Lancaster University informed Al Jazeera in an interview last month. "They don't want the instability that would come from the fall of the Islamic Republic. I think some Gulf states have pushed for harder strikes – not to precipitate its collapse, but to weaken the more hardline elements of the IRGC."

Additionally last month, Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, informed Al Jazeera that confidence in diplomacy to end the crisis remains low but, meanwhile, no nation in the region "can afford another long war".

Consequently, that "will keep them away from a completely uncontrolled level of escalation", and depleted global oil inventories will create a prolonged confrontation between the US and Iran unattractive.

"All inventories have not been able to be replenished" during the ceasefire, Parsi continued. "We are at a much lower level globally." What we know regarding international sanctions against Iran over previous decades?

Since 1979, Iran has faced sanctions from the US and other nations in the West. The United Nations has additionally imposed sanctions on Tehran.

For context, the US first imposed sanctions after the 1979 Islamic Revolution that toppled the pro-Western ruler Reza Shah Pahlavi. According to Washington, was in response to Iranian students taking Americans hostage at the US embassy in Tehran.

Washington additionally halted oil imports from Iran and froze $12bn in Iranian assets after the revolution. Iranian products were banned from import into the US, apart from small gifts, informational material, foodstuffs and some carpets.

In 1995, President Bill Clinton issued executive orders preventing US firms from investing in Iranian oil and gas and trading with Iran. He banned US trade with Iran and investment. A year afterwards, the US Congress passed a law requiring the US administration to impose sanctions on foreign firms investing more than $20m a year in Iran's energy sector.

Then in December 2006, the United Nations Security Council, whose members include China, Russia, the UK and France, imposed sanctions on Iran's trade in nuclear-energy-related materials and technology and froze the assets of individuals and firms involved in related activities.

Notably, the sanctions were mainly an effort to curtail Iran's growing nuclear capacity, but while programmes to enrich uranium were halted in 2002, they restarted in late 2005. In subsequent years, the UN toughened the sanctions and imposed more. The European Union additionally followed suit.

In 2015, Iran signed a nuclear accord – the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – with the US, EU, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United Kingdom. The accord put a cap on Iran's nuclear programme in return for the complete lifting of sanctions.

Nevertheless, in 2018, during his first term, Trump unveiled the US withdrawal from the nuclear treaty and reimposed all sanctions on Iran that were lifted under the treaty as part of his "maximum pressure" campaign against Tehran.

In 2019, the Trump administration designated Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) a 'Foreign Terrorist Organisation'. Additionally, he imposed sanctions targeting petrochemicals, metals (steel, aluminium, copper) and senior Iranian authorities.

During Trump's first term, Qassem Soleimani, the head of the IRGC's elite Quds Force, was assassinated in a drone strike in Baghdad in 2020. The US additionally imposed further sanctions on Iran.

For context, the Biden administration, in power from 2021 to 2025, kept in place most US sanctions.

In short, can Iran retaliate against countries that join US 'economic war'? Is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.