Pakistan army official going to Iran, reportedly plans to discuss US sanctions
Pakistan’s Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir is set to go to Iran Monday, where he will meet with senior Iranian officials, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said Sunday.
The trip is aimed at “strengthening bilateral cooperation between Iran and Pakistan and continuing Pakistan’s good offices in helping promote peace and security in the region,” Tasnim News Agency reported.
A Pakistani government source told Reuters there’d also be discussions regarding the United States’ war against Iran — including new sanctions from the U.S. Pakistan has acted as a mediator between the two countries.
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Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a CNBC interview Saturday he will host a news conference Monday to explain the sanctions. He characterized them as “the greatest coordinated economic isolation in the history of the world” and that Washington would tell allies and other countries they are “either with us or against us.”
President Donald Trump last week made similar comments on Truth Social, saying that the U.S. planned to launch the “most crushing economic operation ever taken against any country.”
“ANY country that allows its financial institutions, businesses, airports, or government entities to provide any type of lifeline to Iran will itself face TREMENDOUS Economic Consequences,” Trump said.
Iranian officials denounced these upcoming sanctions and said they would respond forcefully to them. Baghaei said the measures had “no foundation in international law” and violated the principle of sovereign equality under the U.N. Charter. They would force foreign banks, companies and airports to stop lawful commerce with Iran even though they fall under the jurisdiction of their own governments, he added.
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps spokesman Brigadier General Hossein Mohebbi said the sanctions threatened by the U.S. are “an implicit admission of the enemy’s humiliating defeat in the military arena.”
“We have repeatedly announced that we have scenarios in place for any hostile action by the enemy. One of the enemy’s hostile actions is economic measures and warfare,” Mohebbi said, according to Iranian state-run media. “We have scenarios to counter the adverse effects of the enemy’s war, and we can easily establish economic relations with countries. There is no concern regarding the economic situation.”
Iran’s security chief, Mohsen Rezaei, said if any country supports or participates in America’s sanctions, Iran will see it as an “act of war.”
“If the economic war continues, not a single drop of oil will be exported٫ neither through the Strait of Hormuz nor from anywhere in the Persian Gulf,” Rezaei said.
The current conflict began with U.S. and Israeli strikes in February that killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei.
Even after damage to its energy infrastructure throughout the war, Iran reportedly found 7.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad said around 5.7tcf of the gas, which was discovered in the southern Fars province, can be recovered. Paknejad said these gas condensates are worth “tens of billions of dollars.”
Actual production likely won’t come for years, though, Bloomberg noted, due to sanctions, under-investment and power cuts from before the war.
Iran President says memorandum of understanding best way forward
In June, the U.S. and Iran agreed to a memorandum of understanding that included 60 days of negotiations to end the war. It also included stipulations such as full reopening of the Strait of Hormuz; the eventual lifting of U.S. sanctions; the resumption of Iranian oil exports; a U.S.-backed reconstruction and development plan for Iran valued at $300 billion, and an Iranian pledge never to develop nuclear weapons.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Saturday this memorandum of understanding is “dignified” and free of any Iranian concessions, state media outlet IRNA wrote.
“I believe that one cannot continue with war forever. One day, a decision must be made to save the country from the state of ‘neither war nor peace,’” IRNA quoted Pezeshkian as saying.
“Not even a single clause” in the memorandum indicates capitulation, “and all the commitments concern the other side,” Pezeshkian said.