FILE PHOTO: A woman walks by a mural depicting Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on a street in Tehran, Iran, August 13, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS/File Photo
Iran pledged to fight back against expanded U.S. sanctions aimed at isolating its economy, expressing confidence that major trading partners would resist the pressure campaign and saying that Washington was keen to revive talks.
Almost six months into a conflict the U.S. has struggled to resolve, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent unveiled the measures on Monday but stopped short of the most punishing sanctions.
While he said countries that continued trading with Iran risked being forced out of the dollar-based financial system, he declined to give a timeline or identify which may be targeted, saying he would give them time to comply with the new directive.
Abbas Golroo, head of the foreign relations committee in the Iranian parliament, said Pakistan’s army chief Asim Munir had delivered a message from the U.S. to Iran on Monday.
“It seems the main goal was to revive the stopped political process,” he told ISNA news agency. There was no immediate comment from the White House or the State Department.
US OFFERS TO REVERSE SANCTIONS, PAKISTANI SOURCE CLAIMS
Iran expressed a general willingness to resume peace talks during meetings between Iranian and Pakistani officials on Monday, while expressing concern about the sanctions, a Pakistani government source said.
“Pakistan told them the U.S. will reverse those decisions either before, or during a new round of negotiations,” the official said.
The Treasury Department announced new sanctions on 60 individuals, entities and vessels, but the list did not feature any of the Chinese financial institutions suspected of facilitating Iran’s oil trade.
China has been the biggest buyer of Iranian oil for several years, although the U.S. blockade of Iran’s ports has cut Iranian oil flows to China since Washington renewed it in mid-July.
U.S. President Donald Trump has said he expects to host Chinese President Xi Jinping next month; Washington is keen to avoid any curbs on China’s exports of critical minerals.
China said on Tuesday that its cooperation with Iran is conducted within the framework of international law and should not be interfered with or disrupted.
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Oil prices fell for a second day as traders brushed off the impact of the sanctions, although market participants remained wary of Iran’s continued ability to disrupt shipping.
OIL TANKER STRUCK NEAR STRAIT OF HORMUZ
An oil tanker was struck on Tuesday by an unidentified projectile and disabled about 9 nautical miles (17 km) northeast of Oman’s Ash Shishah, which lies at the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said.
Oman’s foreign minister arrived in Iran on Tuesday to discuss future arrangements for the strait.
After the latest sanctions were unveiled, Iranian Economy Minister Ali Madanizadeh said that Iran was prepared to respond.
“The enemies should wait for an attack,” he told state television. Neither China nor Russia had “accepted” the U.S. measures, he added, predicting that other countries would resist them.
There have been no major U.S. or Iranian strikes for weeks, but Brigadier General Hossein Mohebbi, a spokesperson for Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, vowed heavy blows to U.S. interests and energy chokepoints if Iran’s infrastructure is threatened.
Iran and the United States signed an interim deal in June aimed at ending the war that began with U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran in February, but it quickly faltered and Iran resumed ship attacks that have strangled energy exports from the Gulf.
IRANIAN OFFICIAL PROMISES RESULTS OF MEDIATING VISIT SOON
Mediator Pakistan made “significant progress” in the latest talks with Tehran that focused on preventing further escalation and reopening the Strait of Hormuz, the Pakistani military said.
“We had a very constructive exchange,” Pakistani Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, who accompanied Munir to Tehran, said on X.
An official at the Iranian president’s office, Mehdi Tabatabaei, posted that Munir’s visit to Iran “yielded highly valuable diplomatic achievements, the results of which will soon be revealed”.
The New York Times cited a State Department document saying that U.S. diplomats evacuated during the war could start returning to the Middle East as early as this week.
It was unclear if it was linked to the mediation attempt.
Oil transits through the Strait of Hormuz were at 5 million barrels per day on Monday, provisional data from shiptracker Vortexa
REUTERS
