Iran has delivered a scathing indictment of Washington’s foreign policy, characterising newly imposed United States sanctions as not merely an “illegal economic war” against a single country, but an outright “declaration of war” against all sovereign nations. The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Esmaeil Baghaei, made the remarks during a press conference reported by Iran’s official news agency, Fars, and international news outlet.
Baghaei asserted that through these aggressive financial measures, Washington is attempting to unilaterally impose its domestic legislation and authority over independent United Nations member states. He emphasised that no government possesses the legitimate authority to compel foreign banking institutions, private commercial enterprises, or international airports to halt lawful trade with another nation. Such entities, he noted, operate strictly under the legal and sovereign frameworks of their respective home jurisdictions.
The spokesman called into question the legal foundation of American coercive measures, arguing that unilateral secondary sanctions lack any standing under international law. In Tehran’s view, Washington’s actions directly violate Article 2, Paragraph 1 of the United Nations Charter, which explicitly guarantees the fundamental principle of the sovereign equality of all member states. Baghaei classified these economic measures as “international crimes and illegal acts” designed to undermine the economic autonomy of developing and non-aligned nations.
Warning against the broader geopolitical ramifications, Baghaei cautioned that combining financial sanctions with maritime blockades or trade interdictions subjects global national sovereignty to the whims of powerful states. He warned that if the international community capitulates to such unilateral pressure, national sovereignty worldwide will systematically erode, threatening to plunge the global order back into an era of overt and full-scale colonialism.
