Iran, US trade defiant messages ahead of Washington's new sanctions

Beijing has urged diplomacy as Washington and Tehran exchange defiant messages ahead of the new US sanctions to be announced next Monday.

The Iranian economy is already taking a toll from the Pentagon's naval blockade that makes it extremely difficult for the country to export oil.

As the war nears six months old, a press conference is expected to be held by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent at 2pm EDT Monday to elaborate on what the Trump administration frames as the "toughest sanctions in history" on Iran.

The new measures are expected to trigger economic consequences for countries that provide lifeline to Iran and will likely impact some of its key trading partners including China, which buys more than 80% of Iran's shipped oil, according to 2025 data from analytics firm Kpler.

Donald Trump said earlier on Friday that the United States was observing "what happens" in the conflict. He noted in his opinion, the Iranians "would love to make a deal, but they're not ready to make the right deal."

The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said in a social media post Saturday that the imminent US announcement of sanctions was an assertion of "extraterritorial sovereignty over every independent member state of the United Nations."

"Such secondary sanctions find no foundation in international law," he said.

The chief of staff of Iran's armed forces, Major General Ali Abdollahi, has promised "crushing, punishing and devastating responses" militarily.

But President of the Islamic Republic appealed for a diplomatic solution.

The ISNA news agency reported Masoud Pezeshkian as saying it would be better "to end the war today" when they are powerful and have dignity, and the whole world acknowledges their triumph and emphasises that the US attacked Iranian schools, hospitals and infrastructure against all regulations and "is hated in the world."

Meanwhile, parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf admitted they won't survive if people are hungry and the country doesn't have financial turnover, economic growth and national production.

In Tehran's Grand Bazaar, the inflated prices for rice and beef were 60% and 150% higher than pre-war levels, respectively.

The rising unemployment rate is putting daily necessities like food, medicine and cleaning products further out of reach for families.

A local said "It's become very difficult for us, especially for people like us who live on a fixed salary."