Iranian official says US turned to economic warfare after repeated defeats

Mohsen Rezaei, a senior Iranian official, said in an interview with Press TV on Saturday that the United States has suffered repeated defeats in its confrontation with Iran and has consequently turned to economic warfare out of desperation. He stated that Iran, rather than the US, would determine when the confrontation ends, stressing that Tehran would continue its resistance until its rightful demands are met.

Addressing the presence of US forces in the region, Rezaei told Press TV that the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq reflected Washington's failure to impose its military agenda on the region, describing it as a vindication of Iran's resistance to American military presence in West Asia. He further said that more than 30 million Iranians have registered in the "Janfada" (Sacrifice for Iran) Campaign to take up arms in the event of US aggression.

On diplomacy, the official said Tehran would not return to its previous diplomatic norms, while stressing that Iran would never abandon diplomacy altogether. The senior official warned that if Washington launched another act of aggression against Iran, American assets could be targeted, including key data systems and artificial intelligence sensors.

Rezaei also identified Washington and its regional allies as the root of the problem surrounding the Strait of Hormuz. Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz in response to the latest round of US-Israeli aggression, preventing US and allied ships from navigating the strategic waterway. The move resulted in a significant increase in oil and energy prices across the globe, especially in the US, forcing Washington and the International Energy Agency (IEA) to release their strategic resources several times. Following the signing of the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Iran and the US in June, Tehran opened the Strait of Hormuz, but after the US violated the MoU by blockading Iranian ports, Iran's Armed Forces closed the maritime corridor once again, according to Mehr News.