Iran-US war latest: Trump’s ‘economic D-Day’ arrives as Tehran threatens ‘earthquake-like’ retaliation

Iran’s foreign minister has dismissed the threat of new US sanctions as a sign of desperation and said the expected new measures would fail to defeat Tehran.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who is ⁠due to hold a press conference at 2 p.m. EDT (1800 GMT) on Monday, has threatened to impose “the toughest sanctions in history” on Iran.

Iran’s economy is already under huge pressure from international sanctions, its infrastructure has been hit repeatedly and thousands of people have been killed in airstrikes on the Islamic Republic since the US and Israel launched attacks on February 28.

But Tehran remains defiant after nearly six months of war and has brought shipping to a virtual standstill in ⁠the Strait of Hormuz, refusing to allow unauthorised oil tankers to transit a waterway ​that ⁠is vital for global oil shipments. The effective blockade of the strait has pushed up global oil prices.

Describing what he said were “repetitive scenarios”, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a video posted on Telegram: “The fact that they (US leaders) have ⁠moved on from military operations … to bring up the same old plans shows that they are desperate.”

He said Washington must speak ​to Iran ⁠respectfully to find “a solution based on justice and ‌honour.”

“We have never been afraid. All of their actions – whether blockades or other military moves they have made – have failed, and this new issue of theirs will fail as well,” he said.

After the chaos sparked by Trump and Israel’s war in Iran, experts tell Maira Butt that the Mecca Agreement between Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey could represent a new dawn in the region.

Patrick De Haan, the head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, reported in a post on X that gas prices have never gone above $4 per gallon after August 12 in any year.

On Wednesday morning, the average fuel price was just over $4 per gallon. The last time fuel cost nearly that much around mid-August was in 2022 when the national average gas price was $3.98 per gallon.

The US president has threatened to impose unprecedented economic punishment on Iran, but experts tell Maira Butt that China may prove a huge obstacle.

Journalist Mariam Abu Dagga was killed in the 25 August 2025 double-tap attack on Nasser Hospital in Gaza. Based on dozens of witness testimonies, whistleblowers and visual analysis, this is the most comprehensive reconstruction yet into the strike.

Newly disclosed emails show US immigration officials worked directly with Iranian representatives to deport Iranian nationals in 2025, even as tensions between Washington and Tehran were escalating.

The records, obtained by the National Iranian American Council and released Tuesday, detail cooperation surrounding three removal flights in September and December 2025 and January 2026 that returned more than 100 Iranians.

The emails indicate Iranian representatives requested changes to proposed passenger lists and that US officials sometimes accommodated those requests.

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President Donald Trump cannot let Iran make him “look like a loser” because his legacy is tied up in the war with the Islamic Republic, a former Fox News personality says.

​Political commentator Bill O’Reilly, the former host of The O’Reilly Factor, made the remark on Tuesday night as the six-month anniversary of the start of the war draws closer.

Appearing on NewsNation’s On Balance, O’Reilly began by saying that he believes the US does have a strategy going forward in the conflict with Iran.

”From what I understand, there is some kind of strategy that will involve a tougher approach on Iran,” he claimed. “I don’t know what it is. It’s top secret, classified.”

Mariam Abu Dagga, a mother and journalist, was killed in a 2025 Israeli double-tap attack on the last functioning hospital in South Gaza – she had a way out of Gaza but stayed to cover the slaughter. Chief international correspondent Bel Trew reports.