Iranian banks and businesses remain open in Dubai despite Trump’s D-Day - WSJ

“If the blockade continues, we will target US economic interests 100 percent, with intensity and force,” Rezaei told Lebanon’s Al-Manar television.

Rezaei also warned Israel against resuming the war, saying any new conflict would be different from previous rounds.

“We will send Netanyahu to hell,” he said, adding that the Israeli prime minister had made “major mistakes” that had brought Israel closer to its end.

Tehran has taken a tougher stance since a ceasefire agreed in June failed to produce a broader agreement and the subsequent MoU expired, despite mounting economic problems and Washington’s recent announcement of an “economic D-Day” against Iran.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is preparing to press G20 finance ministers next week to comply with Washington’s sanctions on Iran, according to AFP.

President Donald Trump said Thursday that Tehran was “begging to make a deal,” declaring that “Iran Is a Failing Nation!” in a social media post.

Rezaei shrugged off Trump’s Operation Economic Fury, claiming Iran had already “broken the maritime blockade” during the ceasefire and exported between 70 million and 80 million barrels of oil.

He said oil sales had returned to pre-sanctions levels and that Tehran had established new export routes that were gradually expanding.

The US military rejected that claim hours later.

“Iran has exported zero oil from its shores since we resumed the naval blockade in mid-July,” US Central Command said, adding that other countries in the region had exported 750 million barrels of oil from the Persian Gulf during the same period.

Rezaei also said Iran and Oman had agreed on a shipping corridor running partly through Omani and partly through Iranian waters.

Commercial vessels would be allowed through a designated central channel in the Strait of Hormuz if the United States met Iran’s conditions, he said.

Rezaei added that mediators had asked Tehran to set out its conditions for reopening the strait and that Iran was preparing a list of demands, including an end to the war in the region.

Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani arrived on Thursday, following Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi on Tuesday and Pakistan Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir on Monday, as regional powers seek to create a path toward de-escalation and renewed negotiations.

Al Thani’s visit, his first to Iran since the war began in late February, came after days of diplomacy focused partly on finding an arrangement over Hormuz that could provide an opening for broader talks.

He met President Masoud Pezeshkian, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, Parliament Speaker and senior negotiator Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf and security chief Mohsen Rezaei.

The messages he received reflected the competing currents shaping Tehran’s response to the diplomatic push.

Pezeshkian praised efforts by Qatar, Pakistan, Oman and other countries to promote peace and security in the region. He also pointed to factions in the United States, Israel and Iran that he said were trying to prevent agreements from taking shape, urging US officials to ignore voices opposed to a return to stability.

Ghalibaf told Al Thani that an economic blockade of Iran would be ineffective and said Washington should implement commitments made under the Islamabad memorandum.

Rezaei struck a more confrontational tone, warning that Iran would target US military and economic interests if Washington sought to “commit mischief” against Iran. He reiterated that the Strait of Hormuz would remain closed unless the United States met Tehran’s conditions.

Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said Al Thani discussed regional developments, efforts to reduce tensions and creating conditions for the resumption of dialogue between Tehran and Washington.

Mediators push for talks

The flurry of diplomatic activity has fueled speculation in Iranian media that Tehran and Washington could return to negotiations, although there is little indication that a breakthrough is imminent.

Iran Nuances, an English-language outlet apparently linked to Iran’s Foreign Ministry, argued that the succession of visits reflected concern among regional states that intensified economic pressure could produce wider instability rather than force Iran to capitulate.

The Iranian news agency ILNA was more cautious. In a commentary headlined “Can Qatar Unlock the Negotiations?”, it said the gap between Tehran and Washington remained too wide for Qatar’s mediation to be certain of success.

“If Iran considers lifting economic pressure and ending the blockade a precondition for any opening, while the United States continues to insist on increasing pressure, even activating Qatar’s mediation channels will not necessarily lead to the resumption of negotiations,” it said.

ILNA suggested that Doha could instead begin by mediating over de-escalation and freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, potentially creating an opening for wider negotiations.

Economic daily Donya-ye Eqtesad described the succession of regional visits as a form of “multi-layered diplomacy” aimed at developing a phased roadmap involving Iran, the United States and regional mediators, with maritime arrangements providing an initial route toward de-escalation.

But optimism in parts of the Iranian media contrasts sharply with Washington’s public posture.

US President Donald Trump told Al Jazeera on Wednesday that he was “not in a hurry” to resume negotiations with Iran and had set no timetable for ending the war. He said economic pressure and military action were proving effective.

White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said Thursday that there were currently no negotiations between the United States and Iran and that all options remained on the table.

Fate of missing Iranian pilots

Al Thani’s visit also brought renewed attention in Tehran to the fate of Iranian pilots who went missing in March after their Sukhoi fighter jets were shot down over Qatar.

Iranian officials say three pilots survived after ejecting from their aircraft, were captured by Qatari forces and have been held there since.

Qatar strongly rejects that account. Doha says its search-and-rescue teams found the remains of one pilot and handed them to Iran, but that it has no information about the fate of the others.

Iran has requested that an Iranian Air Force expert team and the International Committee of the Red Cross become involved in determining their fate.

Iranian army spokesman Mohammad Akraminia said Wednesday that if Qatar genuinely did not know what had happened to the pilots, it should make greater efforts to establish their whereabouts.

Fada-Hossein Maleki, a member of parliament’s National Security Commission, said Thursday that the lack of clarity over the pilots remained a source of tension with Doha and warned that any evidence they had been mistreated would affect bilateral relations.

Hardliners also seized on the issue during Al Thani’s visit, accusing Iranian officials of failing to press Qatar publicly over the pilots’ fate.

The German Foreign Ministry, responding to questions from Iran International, said Bank Melli and its Hamburg branch were already covered by wide-ranging EU restrictions.

“Bank Melli Iran is already subject to far-reaching sanctions at EU level, and this of course also applies to Bank Melli's branch in Germany,” the ministry said.

The ministry did not say whether Germany was considering closing the Hamburg branch or whether Washington had formally asked Berlin to do so.

US pressure

The questions follow US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's launch earlier this week of “Operation Economic Outcast,” a campaign aimed at cutting Iran's financial and commercial links abroad.

Bessent specifically targeted Bank Melli, saying “every Bank Melli branch must be shuttered.”

The German Foreign Ministry said Berlin had taken note of Bessent's announcement and remained in talks with Washington and other partners.

“The federal government has taken note of US Treasury Secretary Bessent's announcement and is in constant contact with the US as well as other partners in the EU and in the region regarding further measures against Iran,” it told Iran International.

Berlin gave no indication in its response that a decision had been made on the future of the Hamburg branch.

EU sanctions

The European Union reimposed nuclear-related sanctions against Iran in September last year after France, Germany and Britain triggered the snapback mechanism the previous month.

The measures restored asset freezes on listed Iranian entities and broader restrictions on trade and financial activity.

Bank Melli is explicitly listed under the EU measures along with all its branches and subsidiaries.

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  What Operation Economic Outcast means for Iran, and for everyone trading with

EU documents describe Bank Melli as Iran's largest bank, owned and controlled by the Iranian government, and say it provides services to the Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics.

Under the sanctions, funds and economic resources belonging to or controlled by listed entities must be frozen, and funds or economic resources generally cannot be made available to them directly or indirectly.

EU rules also restrict transfers involving Iranian banks and their branches, while providing exemptions and procedures under which competent authorities can authorize certain transactions.

German oversight

The German Foreign Ministry said the Bundesbank was responsible for implementing EU and UN financial sanctions under Germany's foreign trade framework and referred questions about banking supervision to BaFin.

The Bundesbank says its Financial Sanctions Service Center is Germany's authority for implementing restrictions on capital and payments.

BaFin declined to comment to Iran International on possible measures involving Bank Melli, citing legal confidentiality requirements concerning individual financial institutions.

The regulator told Iran International that Bank Melli remained in its official database and said any final measure that could legally be made public would be published on its website.

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  Tehran debates waiting out Trump’s economic war

BaFin has previously acted against the Hamburg branch.

The regulator said in October 2021 that it had imposed a credit ban on the branch on September 7 of that year after finding that it had breached the four-eyes principle required under German banking rules.

Iran International has also asked the Bundesbank how the restored EU sanctions are being implemented in relation to Bank Melli's Hamburg branch. The central bank had not responded by the time of publication.

For now, Germany has confirmed that EU sanctions apply to the branch but has not said it plans to close it, even as Washington presses foreign governments to shut Bank Melli operations abroad.

The US president told Al Jazeera he had set no deadline for ending a conflict now in its seventh month.

"I have no time schedule, none," he said, calling economic warfare and military strikes against Iran "both effective."

• 

  What Operation Economic Outcast means for Iran, and for everyone trading with

His remarks followed Monday's launch of Operation Economic Outcast, a Treasury campaign that named nearly 60 Iran-linked individuals, entities and vessels and widened the threat of secondary sanctions against anyone still doing business with Tehran.

Iran points to economic toll

Iranian officials are now describing the pressure in language they avoided for months.

President Masoud Pezeshkian said Iran was facing "the worst conditions of an economic war." Executive Vice President Mohammad Jafar Ghaempanah said domestic gasoline production was insufficient and the US naval blockade was preventing imports.

“Continuing on this path is impossible,” Ghaempanah said.

Tehran is fighting the campaign diplomatically as well. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called on the United Nations to condemn Operation Economic Outcast as "economic terrorism," saying its purpose was to sever Iran's lawful economic ties through secondary sanctions and exclusion from the US financial system.

The confrontation has also pulled in Beijing. China said on Tuesday that its economic cooperation with Iran was conducted within international law and should not be disrupted, rejecting what it called illegal unilateral sanctions.

Parliament Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf welcomed that position, saying Iran-China ties "need no one's permission."

Hormuz remains the leverage

While conceding the economic damage, it also showed no sign of softening its position on the Strait of Hormuz.

Revolutionary Guards spokesperson Hossein Mohebi said Iran and Oman had reached understandings on their respective shares of the strait's waters and revenues after about a month of talks.

That went further than the joint Iranian-Omani statement issued on Tuesday, which announced an interim framework for a temporary shipping corridor and joint mine-clearing but said nothing about revenues. A senior Iranian source told Reuters on Wednesday that no final agreement had been reached.

The effect on shipping was visible the same day. An Indian tanker attempting the southern route through the strait turned back after an Iranian warning, according to the Revolutionary Guards-affiliated Fars news agency, which said the route had carried no traffic in the previous 24 hours.

Mohebi set the price plainly. "If the United States stops obstructing and returns to the memorandum, we can reopen the Strait of Hormuz within the framework of the understanding reached," he said. Otherwise, he said, it stays closed.

Diplomacy continues in parallel

Regional governments are still working to keep a route open.

Qatar's prime minister and foreign minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, travels to Tehran on Thursday for talks on reducing tensions and creating conditions for dialogue.

Qatar said the discussions would cover freedom of navigation in the strait and efforts to restore the conditions that prevailed before February 28, when the 40-day war began.

Washington continues to describe a negotiated outcome as preferable even while expanding the economic campaign.

US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said on Wednesday that the administration's "strong desire" was to end Iran's nuclear program through negotiations and inspections administered by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

"Our number one objective is they will not possess nuclear weapons," Wright said. "If we can do it through negotiation and inspections, that is absolutely the desired way."

He added that Washington was prepared to destroy Iran's nuclear facilities and industrial capacity by military means if necessary.

In Tehran, the diplomatic push is already exposing divisions over what comes next.

Pragmatists see the visits as a possible route back to the Islamabad memorandum and negotiations with Washington, while hardliners portray them as an American attempt to escape the pressure Iran has created around Hormuz.

Farda News, a website close to Parliament Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, said visits by Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi and Pakistan’s army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir shared the objective of finding a political solution to the confrontation.

But it stressed that an agreement with Oman would not itself mean reopening Hormuz.

“Tehran insists that a technical agreement with Oman does not mean returning the strait to its pre-war conditions, and that remains tied to the implementation of US commitments under the Islamabad memorandum,” it wrote.

‘American pawn’

Economic daily Donya-ye Eqtesad similarly said the phased agreement could provide a route toward reviving the Islamabad memorandum, easing pressure around the strait and eventually returning Iran and the United States to negotiations.

But hardline Kayhan called the visits a “new phase of the White House deception operation,” arguing that Washington needed Iran back at the negotiating table to escape the energy crisis and deadlock over Hormuz.

It described Munir as an “American pawn” being used to help Washington escape what it called the quagmire of the war and declared the Islamabad memorandum dead.

The competing interpretations follow an unusually concentrated burst of regional diplomacy. Al-Busaidi visited Tehran on Tuesday, a day after Munir, while Qatar’s prime minister is expected in the Iranian capital on Thursday, according to Iranian media.

Diplomatic push

Tehran and Muscat announced after al-Busaidi’s visit that they were working on a phased framework including a temporary maritime corridor through Hormuz and a joint mine-clearance project.

Technical negotiations are continuing over a permanent corridor and the future management of the strait, with the two sides stressing the importance of discussions involving other Persian Gulf states.

After leaving Tehran, al-Busaidi discussed the proposed Hormuz framework with Qatar’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.

Qatar, another mediator between Tehran and Washington, said Tuesday that it continued to support efforts to resolve the crisis.

Former diplomat Jalal Sadatian told Fararu that Oman’s renewed activity should be understood in light of its established mediation role. He said Munir also appeared to have carried a message from Washington aimed at reducing tensions and reopening a channel for talks.

International affairs analyst Jafar Ghanadbashi went further, writing in Arman Melli that the Pakistani and Omani visits were “a very clear sign of America’s view of the current situation and its need for negotiations at this time.”

‘No rush for talks’

But Iranian officials have made clear that progress with Oman does not mean Tehran is ready to reopen the strait.

Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said Tuesday that Iran still considered itself to be at war and that the agreement with Oman did not amount to an immediate reopening of Hormuz.

He said reopening depended on an end to the war on all fronts, the lifting of the blockade against Iran and a resolution of the situation in Yemen.

Gharibabadi also challenged US claims about mine clearance in the strait, asking why vessels had not resumed passage if the mines had been removed. He warned that US mine-clearance vessels entering the area would be targeted.

Hossein Mohebi, a spokesman for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said Wednesday that negotiations with Oman over the past month had produced mutually acceptable results concerning the two countries’ respective waters and revenues from the strait.

But he accused Washington of obstructing a final agreement and reiterated that reopening Hormuz depended on the United States returning to the Islamabad memorandum.

“If the United States does not accept our conditions, the Strait of Hormuz will not open under any circumstances,” Mohebi said.

President Donald Trump said Wednesday he was “not in a hurry” to resume negotiations with Iran and had “no time schedule” for ending the war. He said both economic warfare and military strikes against Iran were effective.

The competing signals leave regional mediators with a difficult sequencing problem: whether an agreement over Hormuz can create enough room to restart diplomacy before either Tehran or Washington decides it has more to gain by waiting.