Tehran, Iran – The new leader of Iran’s top security body has warned its neighbours against joining new US efforts to squeeze Tehran’s economy, and threatened US commercial interests in the region.

Mohsen Rezaei, the hardline new leader of Iran’s supreme national security council, told state television that Iran would target oil-shipping routes outside the Gulf – alternatives to the Strait of Hormuz – if its neighbours joined what he called the “economic war” waged by the US. Those neighbours would be “considered an enemy” and “we will target their interests”, he said.

Rezaei was commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) for most of the 1980-88 war with Iraq and was named this month in a series of senior appointments widely seen as hardening Tehran’s political and military stance.

Rezaei also claimed the Islamic republic had more cards to play in the war, saying “we have not yet attacked any American economic interests”.

In the interview broadcast on Saturday, Rezaei said, “So far, we have only targeted military bases, but if they want to impose economic sanctions on us, the United States has oil and economic companies around Iran and elsewhere, and we will strike them.”

Last week, US President Donald Trump announced a new campaign to isolate Iran’s economy, threatening “tremendous economic consequences” on any country that helps or does business with Tehran, as the unpopular war drags towards the six-month mark without any significant sign of resolution.

Trump’s efforts to finish the war he started along with Israel on February 28 have foundered after a ceasefire agreement signed in June collapsed – leaving Iran in control of the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway that was the conduit for one-fifth of the world’s oil supplies before the conflict.

Washington has called on other governments to join its efforts to isolate the Iranian economy, notably China, among Iran’s top strategic partners. However, Beijing has criticised the initiative, arguing that US sanctions would not resolve the conflict in the Middle East.

One of Iran’s major trading partners, the United Arab Emirates, announced on Tuesday last week that it was suspending all trade and financial transactions with Tehran until further notice.

Agencies