US, Iran keep up hostile rhetoric ahead of new sanctions

InternationalUS, Iran keep up hostile rhetoric ahead of new sanctionsBy Reuters -Aug 22, 2026Add ARY News on GoogleAAResizeCAIRO/WASHINGTON: The United States and Iran exchanged defiant messages ahead ​of Monday’s scheduled announcement of new U.S. economic sanctions that could impact the Islamic Republic and Tehran’s most important trading partners including China. As the ‌war neared six months old, the two sides were not exchanging fire but also not pursuing peace talks. All the while, oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz have virtually halted as Tehran clings to its leverage by threatening to strike any unauthorized oil tankers that attempt to transit the narrow waterway. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will hold a press conference at 2 p.m. EDT (1800 GMT) on Monday amid ​promises to reveal “the toughest sanctions in history” on Iran while also urging China to cooperate with Washington. China buys more than 80% of Iran’s shipped ​oil, according to 2025 data from analytics firm Kpler. Beijing urged diplomacy. Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on Saturday that the imminent U.S. announcement of ⁠new economic sanctions on Iran was an “assertion of extraterritorial sovereignty over every independent member state of the United Nations.” “Such secondary sanctions find no foundation in ​international law,” he said in a post on X. U.S. President Donald Trump, who has warned of economic consequences against any country that provides “any type of lifeline ​to Iran,” said on Friday that Washington was observing “what happens” in the conflict. “They would love to make a deal, but they’re not ready to make the right deal, in my opinion,” Trump said of Iran. HORMUZ TRAFFIC HALTED While the U.S. has effectively blockaded Iranian vessels in their ports, the Strait of Hormuz remained bottled up with thousands of seafarers ​stranded on hundreds of vessels. Only four commodity ships sailed along the strait on Thursday, none of them large crude car...