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Iran's Foreign Ministry said Saturday that new U.S. economic sanctions against Tehran amount to a "declaration of war" on every U.N. member state, escalating a war of words just days after U.S. President Donald Trump vowed to launch the "most crushing economic operation ever taken against any country."
The sharp rebuke came from two senior Iranian officials within 48 hours, signaling a coordinated pushback against what Tehran calls an illegal attempt to extend U.S. authority beyond its borders.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said the new sanctions go far beyond a bilateral economic dispute.
"The announcement of new sanctions represents an attempt by the United States to exert extraterritorial sovereignty over all independent UN member states," Baghaei said on the social media platform X.
He said the measures were "far more than continued unlawful 'economic warfare' against a single country" and instead represented "an assertion of extraterritorial sovereignty over every independent Member State of the United Nations."
Baghaei said no government has the right to force foreign banks, businesses or airports operating under their own sovereign jurisdiction to halt legitimate trade with a third country.
Baghaei argued the secondary sanctions have "no foundation in international law," saying they violate the principle of sovereign equality under Article 2, Paragraph 1 of the U.N. Charter.
He also cited the customary prohibition on intervention in other states' affairs, which he said the International Court of Justice affirmed in the Nicaragua case.
Baghaei linked the sanctions to a U.S. naval blockade, saying the combination reduces other countries' sovereignty to something "provisional, conditional, and revocable at the whim of another power."
He warned that yielding to the pressure would not grant any country immunity but would instead confirm foreign control over the legitimate banking, business, and airport operations of other nations.
Left unchecked, Baghaei said, the policy would lead to "the total erosion of national sovereignty" as a founding principle of the U.N.-based international system and mark "a catastrophic return to blatant, full-scale colonialism."
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi separately said Friday that Trump's newly announced sanctions are "bound to fail," pointing to the outcomes of earlier US pressure campaigns.
"14 years ago: 'Most crippling sanctions in history.' Failed. 8 years ago: 'Maximum pressure.' Failed," Araghchi wrote on X.
He added that a U.S. call five months ago for Iran's "unconditional surrender" also failed, and said Trump's latest "most crushing economic operation ever" would meet the same outcome.
Araghchi also posted an image referencing a 2012 statement by then-Vice President Joe Biden, who had described earlier measures against Iran as "the most crippling sanctions in the history of sanctions."
Trump announced earlier his intention to launch what he called "the most crushing economic operation ever taken against any country," describing the effort as "Economic Warfare and Isolation on an unprecedented scale."
He vowed to sever financial channels supporting Tehran, warning that countries providing Iran an economic "lifeline" through financial institutions, businesses, airports or government entities would face severe economic consequences.
Calling the campaign an "Economic D-Day," Trump urged U.S. allies to join the effort to financially isolate Tehran.
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