Iran’s security chief Mohsen Rezaei has threatened “earthquake-like” retaliation should US president Donald Trump take any further action. Tehran has also cautioned its Gulf neighbours against joining Donald Trump’s “economic D-Day” sanctions after the US said it would look to hit Iran’s financial interests. Should Trump "take action, our confrontation will be like an earthquake," Rezaei said.
He added: “If the countries surrounding Iran join the Americans in their economic war, not a drop of oil will leave the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, and we will also target other oil export routes from the Persian Gulf.” Trump has promised to wage "Economic Warfare and Isolation on an unprecedented scale” on Iran in what he called the “toughest sanctions in history”. In response, Tehran accused Trump of threatening “economic terrorism”. Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei on Saturday said that the imminent US announcement of new economic sanctions on Iran was an "assertion of extraterritorial sovereignty over every independent member state of the United Nations".
Chile will shutter its embassy in Iran by the end of August but will not sever its diplomatic ties with Tehran, the Chilean foreign ministry said. The ministry said the reshuffle was aimed at streamlining diplomatic resources while protecting diplomats as instability continues to grip the Middle East. Trump said earlier this week that he would impose a "most crushing economic operation" against Tehran as the war nears its six-month anniversary.
Poland's foreign ministry has summoned Israel's ambassador in Warsaw, expressing that it was "very disappointed" after Israel decided against pursuing criminal proceedings over a 2024 attack on a volunteer convoy in Gaza that killed a Polish citizen. Damian Sobol, a volunteer from Przemysl in southeastern Poland, was among seven individuals working for celebrity chef Jose Andres' World Central Kitchen who died in the April 2024 central Gaza airstrike, an incident that prompted an international outcry. • US president Donald Trump has issued another economic threat against Iran, vowing “TREMENDOUS Economic Consequences” for any country that trades with Tehran • In a rant on Truth Social, he wrote: “This will be an ECONOMIC D-DAY, and we need all of our Allies to stand with the United States of America to isolate, and defeat, the Iran threat” • He also said Iran are not ready to make the "right deal" and called the Strait of Hormuz “American territory” • In response, Tehran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said that the threats would only bring Trump “further defeat” as he struggles to find an exit strategy from an unpopular war • Iran also gave permission to a number of Iraqi tankers to progress through the Strait on Saturday An Iranian military official has called on Qatar to transfer detained Iranian pilots to a hospital on land, saying they were being held on water and were in "poor physical condition"”. Tasnim news agency reported that Mohammad Baqerzadeh, commander of the Committee for the Search for Missing Persons of Iran's Armed Forces General Staff, said the location where the pilots were being held was unsuitable and requested that the International Committee of the Red Cross send an air ambulance to Qatar to expedite the return of injured and sick detainees to Iran.
Qatar denied last week that it was holding Iranian pilots, saying they had violated Qatari airspace earlier this year and failed to respond to attempts to contact them. Doha said it had contacted Iran to coordinate the handover of the remains of one pilot and had invited Tehran to review details of its search and rescue operations, but had received no response. A foreign ministry spokesperson said on Tuesday that the invitation remained open for an Iranian delegation to visit over the pilots issue.
In his latest statement, Mr Baqerzadeh welcomed Qatar’s decision to receive a team of Iranian experts and called on Doha to provide them with the necessary cooperation. Mr Baqerzadeh had previously said an Iranian Air Force expert and fact-finding team had been waiting for months to enter Qatar and accused Qatari officials of repeatedly delaying the investigation. President Donald Trump cannot let Iran make him “look like a loser” because his legacy is tied up in the war with the Islamic Republic, a former Fox News personality says. Political commentator Bill O’Reilly, the former host of The O’Reilly Factor, made the remark on Tuesday night as the six-month anniversary of the start of the war draws closer. Appearing on NewsNation’s On Balance, O’Reilly began by saying that he believes the US does have a strategy going forward in the conflict with Iran.
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