Iran on Tuesday summoned Britain’s ambassador and threatened to reconsider diplomatic relations after London blamed the IRGC for a suspected plot targeting a US-used airbase and Britain’s intelligence chief warned of growing Iranian threats to military sites.
Nearly three-quarters of respondents to an Iran International Instagram poll backed continued US pressure on the Islamic Republic, while thousands of comments revealed deep divisions over its economic cost and whether it could bring political change.
Britain said on Monday that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had “almost certainly” directed a suspected plot targeting RAF Fairford, as it vowed to crack down on Iranian criminal networks, sanctioned two Iranian nationals and summoned Iran’s ambassador.
Washington’s new sanctions are unlikely to stop a China–Iran freight train at the border, but may make the route Tehran has turned to under pressure from the US naval blockade costlier and less reliable.
The US blockade and tighter sanctions enforcement are cutting into Iran’s oil income and targeting financial networks that sustain the Islamic Republic, but may still fall short of forcing Tehran into concessions, experts said at an Iran International town hall in Washington.
The cost of transporting goods from Turkish ports to Iran has surged over fivefold in less than two months to about $8,000, Iranian media reported, as Washington pressures Turkey to help cut off Iran's overland trade routes to further isolate Tehran economically.
For the first time in Iran’s history, revenue from crude oil and condensate exports could dry up entirely by mid-December if the US blockade remains in place, according to the head of crude oil analysis at Kpler.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent this week outlined an expanding campaign of what he called “absolute isolation” against Iran, targeting its oil revenue, overseas financial access and transport routes as Washington seeks to strangle Tehran’s economy.
More than two-thirds of respondents to an Iran International Instagram poll said the Trump administration’s pressure on the Islamic Republic is hurting ordinary Iranians more than the authorities.
Saudi Aramco has hired a US engineering firm to upgrade an offshore oil field it shares with Iran, which has fallen far behind several neighbors in developing shared energy reserves.
The US Treasury sanctioned 17 vessels and their owners Thursday under Operation Economic Outcast, saying the action effectively neutralizes most of Iran’s remaining shadow fleet.
The widening reach of US sanctions across Iran’s transport and industrial networks has raised alarms in Tehran that Washington is seeking to close off the alternative trade routes the country has relied on to circumvent years of economic pressure.
Iran’s Bank Parsian, under US sanctions, used its foreign-exchange arm to move millions of dollars abroad through a network of intermediaries, according to an Iran International investigation based on leaked internal correspondence and transaction records.
Senior IRGC commander Hossein-Reza Sadeghi and his son Saeed played central roles in efforts to preserve an IRGC Intelligence oil-sales network and shift its financial operations from the United Arab Emirates to Russia, an Iran International investigation found.
Workers across several sectors in Iran say employers are delaying or splitting wage payments, cutting benefits and warning staff they could lose their jobs for protesting, as inflation and rising living costs deepen pressure on households.
Iran’s currency fell to another record low against the dollar on Sunday, extending its decline during a US campaign aimed at restricting the Islamic Republic’s oil exports and financial flows.
With war disrupting Iran’s southern trade routes, Tehran is looking north to the Caspian for alternatives. But the available evidence suggests they cannot replace its crucial oil exports.
A leaked Russian government roadmap obtained by Fox News put the share of Russia-Iran trade settled in national currencies at 68%, far below Moscow’s public claims that nearly all bilateral trade had shifted to rubles and rials.
The US Treasury sanctioned Iran’s automotive and rail sectors Thursday, expanding its campaign to some of the country’s largest industrial companies as Washington seeks to choke off Tehran’s sources of revenue with Operation Economic Outcast.
New tanker-tracking data shows that Iran’s new oil exports have effectively ground to a halt, while crude exports from Arab countries in the region surpassed pre-war levels in the final week of September.
Iran’s deepening isolation is drawing divided reactions from Persian-language social media users, with some welcoming US pressure to weaken the country’s rulers and others warning that ordinary people will bear the cost without producing political change.
Iran said on Tuesday it is awaiting a US response to its proposal for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, as regional oil flows continued to recover and the rial sank past 2.5 million to the dollar.