IRGC: Economic blockade could harm US more than Iran

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has stated that the United States’ economic and maritime blockade against Iran could impose costs several times greater on Washington than the impact it has on Tehran.

“If the US wants to inflict one dollar of economic damage on Iran, they may have to bear several dollars in costs and losses,” IRGC spokesman Brigadier General Hossein Mohibi told the Mehr news agency on Sunday.

Mohibi said Iran would not capitulate to sanctions and pressure. He also claimed that US President Donald Trump previously believed Washington could force Iran to back down by relying on its military might, naval fleet and aircraft carriers. However, according to him, recent developments show that calculation was mistaken.

He argued that the US, which now faces a massive debt burden as well as economic competition with China and other countries, would struggle to win what he called an economic war against Iran.

Mohibi also claimed that developments in the region have depleted US strategic reserves and affected access to a number of raw materials, including as a result of disruptions to aluminium production and exports in the region.

According to Mohibi, these developments show that economic pressure and blockades do not always guarantee victory and can in fact impose significant costs on the country imposing them.

The ongoing conflict began when the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran in February, which Iran subsequently answered with attacks on US and Israeli targets, along with rising tensions over maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz.

Washington has also stepped up economic pressure on Tehran alongside its military operations, imposing sanctions targeting Iran’s oil, shipping, aviation, technology and financial sectors.

Iranian officials have described the sanctions and maritime trade restrictions as economic warfare and a blockade.