Washington tightens economic noose on Tehran

Refusal to grant visas to members of the Iranian UN delegation

Tensions between Iran and the United States are escalating, with an exchange of military threats and intensified economic pressures, coinciding with a stalled diplomatic track against the backdrop of the ongoing war in the region. Meanwhile, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard warned of expanding the scope of its targets and changing the nature of the confrontation should Washington launch a new attack, at a time when pressure is mounting on the US administration to intervene against the Houthis in Yemen.

In a statement on Monday, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard threatened to strike "new targets" and "change the geography of the war and the quality of its weapons" if the United States launches a new attack on the Islamic Republic.

The Guard emphasized that "in the event of a new attack, there will certainly be major changes in our defense and counter-offensive," hinting at "changing the geography of the war and the weapons and military equipment used."

It added, "We will introduce new weapons with new capabilities to the battlefield and the world will be surprised," noting that "our targets will not necessarily be the same as before; we have new targets that we have not yet attacked."

The Revolutionary Guard also affirmed its readiness to wage a "long-term war."

The Khatam al-Anbiya Headquarters, the central operations room of the Iranian Armed Forces, had warned the United States that "all its bases and interests in the region will become a target for continuous, effective, and painful attacks without any limits or restrictions" if it "commits a mistake in dealing with Iran."

This comes at a time when military escalation has returned to the forefront after a month of relative calm in the war that erupted with the US-Israeli attack on Iran on February 28, with renewed exchanges of strikes, while the diplomatic path remains stalled.

The repercussions of the war have extended to Yemen, where the conflict witnessed a sharp escalation in July following a truce concluded in 2022, with the Iran-backed Houthis announcing a naval blockade on Saudi ports and beginning to target the Kingdom's facilities and tankers in the Red Sea.

In September, the Houthis, following a surprise attack, took control of the entire western coast of Yemen overlooking the Red Sea, and seized the strategic Bab al-Mandab Strait area, which connects the Indian Ocean to the Red Sea, and thus Asia to Europe via the Suez Canal.

In Washington, The New York Times reported that US President Donald Trump has changed his position several times in recent days regarding his strategy in Yemen, amid Saudi pressure to carry out strikes against the Iran-backed Houthis, and fears of the United States becoming involved in a new front in the Middle East.

Trump had told his advisors the previous day that he opposed launching strikes, but changed his position after the call and "ordered the Pentagon to prepare to carry out airstrikes against the Houthis," according to The New York Times.

However, by Sunday, he appeared to have backed down again and decided not to carry out the strikes, "at least for the time being," according to US administration officials who spoke to the newspaper on condition of anonymity.

The White House refused to comment on this information, while a senior administration official merely told the newspaper that "the United States is bound by a defense agreement with Saudi Arabia, and we will always defend our allies."

Trump said on Sunday that the Houthis had agreed not to fight the United States, according to statements reported by a journalist for Fox News.

In parallel with the military escalation, US economic pressures on Iran continue, as US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent predicted on Monday that Iranian airlines would cease operations within the next two days under the weight of US sanctions.

Bessent said in an interview with CNBC that "all Iranian airlines will cease operations as of September 23," adding that if these planes land, "no one will be able to refuel them, provide landing services, or sell their tickets, otherwise they will be excluded from the dollar system."

On the diplomatic side, the United States refused to issue entry visas to some members of the delegation accompanying Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, who is scheduled to head to New York today, Tuesday, to participate in the UN General Assembly, according to Iranian state media.

Pezeshkian is the highest-ranking Iranian official to visit the United States since the outbreak of the war in the Middle East following the US-Israeli strikes on Iran in February, and he is scheduled, according to the Iranian Mehr News Agency, to deliver his speech before the UN General Assembly on Wednesday.

The official Iranian news agency "IRNA" said that the United States, in a move it described as "unprecedentedly hostile," refused to grant entry visas to some members of the high-level presidential delegation, including members of the Iranian president's media team. The Mehr agency also reported the news, citing a spokesperson for the Iranian presidency.

Similar to last year, the United States is imposing restrictions on the movements of the members of the Iranian delegation who will be allowed to enter, while the US State Department announced on Thursday that they would not be allowed to purchase luxury goods and a number of other items.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who is among the members of the delegation, left Tehran on Sunday evening, with a brief stop in Doha before continuing his trip to New York.

Earlier, Iranian officials said they had informed Washington through intermediaries of Iran's conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has largely closed since the start of the US-Israeli war on February 28.

Before the war, the strait saw the passage of about a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas exports, while the United States is imposing a blockade on Iranian ports.

These developments come at a time when the military, economic, and diplomatic paths of the crisis are intertwined, with the continued confrontation between Iran and the United States and its allies, and the expansion of its repercussions to Yemen and vital maritime corridors, while regional and international parties are trying to contain the escalation and prevent it from turning into a wider confrontation.