Iran warns that backing new US sanctions would be an act of war

On Saturday, August 22, Iran’s new top security official, Mohsen Rezaei, warned that countries joining the US campaign to squeeze Tehran would be treated as enemies. He said support for new sanctions could count as an act of war.

Rezaei also threatened to target those countries’ interests and oil-shipping routes out of the Persian Gulf, including routes outside the Strait of Hormuz. It’s still a warning rather than a reported new attack, but it broadens Tehran’s stated response to the US economic campaign.