Iran says fresh sanction threats reveal U.S. ‘economic terrorism’

Iran on Thursday denounced the latest U.S. sanctions as “economic terrorism,” as Washington announced a new campaign to exert maximum economic pressure on the Islamic Republic.

The strong condemnation came from Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei. U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said at a Pentagon briefing on Thursday that the U.S. Department of Treasury is launching an operation called “Economic Fury” against Iran to maximize economic pressure.  He also described a potential U.S. military blockade of Iranian ports as the mildest way to deal with it at present.