US President Donald Trump has dramatically escalated pressure on Iran, announcing a sweeping new tariff policy aimed not only at Tehran but also at countries that continue to trade with it.
In a social media post on Monday, Trump said the United States would impose a 25 percent tariff on any country doing business with Iran while also maintaining commercial ties with the US. He said the measure would take effect immediately, describing it as “final and conclusive,” though he did not clarify which countries would be targeted first.
The announcement comes as Iran faces its most serious wave of unrest in years. Protests, initially sparked by economic grievances, have spread nationwide and evolved into a broader challenge to the ruling system that has governed the country since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
According to economic data platform Trading Economics, Iran’s largest trading partners include China, Turkiye, the United Arab Emirates, and Iraq — all nations with varying degrees of trade exposure to the United States.
Iranian authorities have responded to the unrest with force and a near-total internet blackout, measures that rights groups say are intended to obscure the true scale of casualties. The Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights warned that the communications shutdown has made independent verification of deaths and injuries nearly impossible.
“The international community has a duty to protect civilian protesters against mass killing by the Islamic republic,” said IHR director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam.
Despite the crackdown, protests have persisted for more than two weeks, defying heavy security deployments. Iranian officials have blamed foreign powers for inflaming the unrest and have organised mass pro-government rallies in response.
On Monday, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has ruled since 1989, claimed the demonstrations had failed. Speaking on state television, he said large counter-rallies across the country sent a “warning” to the United States and showed that foreign-backed plans had been thwarted.
At a rally in Tehran’s Enghelab Square, parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf accused the US and Israel of waging a “four-front war” against Iran, citing economic, psychological, military and internal security pressures. He warned that any direct attack would provoke a severe response.
Meanwhile, Washington signalled that military options remain on the table. The White House said Trump was “unafraid” to use force if necessary, while still prioritising diplomacy.
The US State Department also issued a fresh warning to Americans in Iran, urging dual nationals to leave the country using Iranian passports and cautioning that US citizens face a high risk of detention.
China swiftly rejected Trump’s tariff threat. A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington said Beijing opposed “unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction,” warning that tariff wars benefit no one and vowing to protect China’s interests.
Europe, meanwhile, has taken a harder political stance. The European Union said it was considering additional sanctions over Iran’s handling of protests, while the European Parliament banned Iranian diplomats from its premises. French President Emmanuel Macron condemned what he called indiscriminate state violence against protesters.
Russia, a key ally of Tehran, criticised what it described as foreign interference in Iran’s internal affairs, signalling deepening geopolitical divisions as the crisis unfolds.
With protests ongoing, diplomacy fragile, and economic pressure intensifying, Iran now finds itself facing mounting isolation — and the growing risk of a broader international confrontation.
