Iran says neighbours seek new security order, warns against US 'economic war'
Tehran — Iran's parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said on Saturday that Tehran has received messages from neighbouring countries about "shaping new security commitments and economic cooperation in the region." In a post on X, Ghalibaf accused the United States of putting its allies at risk through "bullying and pure disregard for their interests for the sake of Israel," adding that a "homegrown, independent" security order is "what will actually deliver peace and security" in the Middle East.
The comments come nearly six months after the United States and Israel launched joint airstrikes on Iran on February 28. Tehran responded by launching missiles and drones toward Israel and US military bases in regional countries, according to reports citing Iranian state media. Media reports, citing regional officials, said Gulf Arab countries were frustrated with Washington for initiating the war while failing to shield them.
Meanwhile, Iran's top security official, Mohsen Rezaei, warned on Saturday that any country participating in the US "economic war" against Iran will be considered an "enemy" by Tehran. In an interview with state-run IRIB TV, Rezaei, the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said Iran would first negotiate with such countries and ask them to stay out of the conflict. But he warned that if they refuse, Tehran will strike their interests, and that if surrounding countries choose to join the US siege, Iran "will not let even a single drop of oil be exported from the Strait of Hormuz."
Rezaei also claimed that Iran has learned how to bypass US sanctions and continue oil sales over the years, and repeated that the Hormuz Strait will remain closed unless the United States fulfils its commitments under an Iran-US peace memorandum of understanding signed in June, adding that Washington must act first.
In a separate appearance on state television, Mohsen Rezai — the same official, whose name is transliterated differently in some reports — said: "We declare to all countries; do not join the economic war waged by the United States. Any country participating in the imposition of economic restrictions against us is considered an enemy." He insisted that Iran had not yet attacked any American economic interests, but threatened to strike US oil and economic companies if sanctions are imposed, saying "our confrontation will be like an earthquake" if President Donald Trump takes action.
The warnings come as US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is due to hold a press conference on Monday after threatening "the toughest sanctions in history" on Iran. Iran denounced the planned sanctions as an "assertion of extraterritorial sovereignty over every independent member state of the United Nations," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said in a post on X, adding that "such secondary sanctions find no foundation in international law."
President Trump said Washington was observing "what happens" in the conflict and that Iran "would love to make a deal, but they're not ready to make the right deal." China, which buys more than 80% of Iran's shipped oil according to 2025 data from analytics firm Kpler, has criticised the US sanctions initiative, arguing that American sanctions would not resolve the conflict in the Middle East. The United Arab Emirates announced on Tuesday that it was suspending all trade and financial transactions with Iran until further notice.
Oil shipments remain at a virtual standstill in the Strait of Hormuz, with Tehran threatening to strike any unauthorized oil tankers trying to transit the vital waterway. Ship-tracking data shows only four commodity ships sailed through the strait on Thursday, none of them large crude carriers or LNG tankers, and thousands of seafarers remain stranded. US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said the US military helped move a seven-day average of 8 million barrels a day of oil through the strait, down from more than 20 million per day before the war.
US attacks have severely diminished Iran's economy and devastated its navy and air force, but Iran maintains enough missile and drone capability to impede oil tanker traffic and attack regional rivals. Iranian Armed Forces Chief of Staff Abdollahi visited an underground ballistic missile plant and said it could produce equipment "superior both in capacities and quality and in quantity."
President Trump has yet to achieve objectives such as dismantling Iran's nuclear programme, with UN inspectors shut out since 2025, or creating conditions for Iranians to overthrow their clerical rulers. Thousands have been killed, mainly in Iran, where 168 Iranian school children were killed on the first day of the war. The US has reported more than 750 military personnel wounded and 18 killed.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has called for a diplomatic solution, saying "It would be better to end the war today, when we are powerful and have dignity..."