Trump vowed the "MOST CRUSHING ECONOMIC OPERATION EVER TAKEN."
President Donald Trump announced "major combat operations" against Iran on Feb. 28, with massive joint U.S.-Israeli strikes targeting military, government and infrastructure sites.
Delegations from the U.S. and Iran entered negotiations in June aimed at a war-ending deal based on a memorandum of understanding signed by both countries.
The U.S. and Iran have nonetheless continued to exchange strikes, with the strategic Strait of Hormuz the primary flashpoint.
IRGC spokesman Brig. Gen. Mohsen Mohebbi says Iran has upgraded its military capabilities, warning that any future war could see the use of more destructive weapons.
"The warheads used in Iran’s missiles are far more destructive than those used in previous wars. Iran’s weapons would be 'completely different' in all respects if another war begins," Mohebbi said.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that if President Donald Trump decides to impose "maximum economic pressure" on Iran, military strikes would likely not restart.
"If we are doing the maximum economic pressure, then that means that likely there will not be a large-scale kinetic restart,” Bessent said.
"I think oil markets are misinterpreting what this economic pressure means," he later added. "The economic pressure means that we are going to all of our allies, and this is going to be the greatest coordinated economic isolation in the history of the world."
Bessent threatened that the federal government will impose "its full might and force" against those that continue to do business with Iran.
"We are going to them and saying, you’re either with us or against us. You want this murderous regime to end. And if you insist on doing business with them, either transferring money, buying their oil, they're doing seaborne ship transport first, then the U.S. Treasury and the U.S. government, they will put its full might and force toward enforcing against you,” Bessent said.
Pressed on if the accountability will apply to China as well, Bessent dodged, saying those conversations are better left private.
"Again, many conversations are best to have in private, and we are confident that everyone wants the strait reopened and for energy prices to come back down," he said.
Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it strongly condemned the "illegal and inhumane" threat of economic sanctions by the U.S. on the country.
The ministry called the sanctions "economic terrorism" and "a crime against humanity," and vowed to use "all means and capacities" to defend national sovereignty, in a statement Thursday.
"These sanctions, imposed following the one-and-a-half-year imposed wars by the American-Zionist alliance against Iran and their failure to advance their satanic objectives of forcing the Iranian nation to submit to their illegal and anti-human demands, merely lengthen the list of U.S. crimes committed against Iran. However, they will certainly have no effect whatsoever on the determination of Iranians to safeguard Iran's independence, dignity, and national sovereignty," the ministry said.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) Centre on Thursday issued a warning after armed individuals hijacked a tanker in the Gulf of Aden.
A tanker was "boarded by six armed persons who are now in control of the vessel and redirecting to Somalia," the UKMTO said in its alert. The incident occurred about 136 nautical miles east of Al Mukalla, Yemen.
Initially, the ship broadcast a distress call about an authorized vessel approaching the tanker as it traveled west, the UKMTO said.
-ABC News' Othon Leyva
