US openly "threatening to starve Iranians through blockade": Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei

In a post on X on Saturday, Baghaei reacted to Rubio's remarks following the G7 Foreign Ministers' meeting in France, where the US Secretary of State said military action against Iran was not necessary at this stage as economic pressure was continuing to affect the country.

""They have to eat eventually," the US Secretary of State has declared - openly and insolently threatening to starve Iranians through a blockade. This is yet another admission that Washington is pursuing war crimes, compounding the atrocities it has already committed in its wars of aggression and economic terrorism against Iran," Baghaei said.

"After decades of failed coercion, threats, sanctions, terrorism, and aggression, the United States continues to repeat the same mistakes, merely repackaging them under new names," he added.

Calling it a "textbook example" of what historian Barbara Tuchman called a "March of Folly", Baghaei accused the US government of persisting with policies despite their failures and becoming increasingly entrenched in its approach.

Meanwhile, Iranian Finance Minister Seyed Ali Madanizadeh has dismissed US economic threats against Tehran as "ineffective", claiming that the country's trade and exports continue to grow, according to Iran's semi-official Mehr news agency, as reported by IRIB on Saturday.

"Their economic threats are ineffective and are only an attempt to create pressure," Madanizadeh said in response to recent statements by US officials.

He further claimed that all borders remained open, trade with neighbouring countries was increasing and the value of Iranian exports had risen despite the economic pressure.

"Imports of essential goods are well-supplied and stocks are available in warehouses," he added.

The Iranian minister's remarks come amid Tehran's preparations for a proposed "zero oil budget", which would involve the loss of a third of its national income if US economic sanctions remain in place.

Moreover, Iranian lawmaker Ebrahim Azizi has said Iran's resistance across multiple fronts has pushed the United States into a strategic dead end.

He warned Washington against further miscalculations, asserting that Tehran's response to any renewed aggression would be more forceful than ever before.

According to Iran's state news agency IRNA, Azizi, Chairman of the Iranian Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, said on Friday that Iran's ability to disrupt the calculations of its adversaries stemmed from the Iranian people's steadfastness in the face of hostile actions by the United States and Israel.

Recalling the history of tensions since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Azizi accused Washington of repeatedly attempting to obstruct Iran through coups, military operations, economic sanctions and political pressure. He referred to the Nojeh coup attempt and the Tabas incident, alongside the war and sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic.

Azizi said US President Donald Trump's frequently changing statements on negotiations, agreements, military action, weapons, the Strait of Hormuz and the destruction of Iran reflected Washington's inability to anticipate Tehran's response.

As per a November 10 report of Axios, United States President Donald Trump has settled on a third option in the Iran war, choosing to intensify economic pressure on Tehran rather than resume military strikes or agree to a peace deal under terms deemed unacceptable by Washington.

On November 10, Rubio had said that economic pressure on Iran would continue to intensify over the coming months, warning that the country's oil revenues would eventually dry up as sanctions took effect.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the G7 Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Paris, France, Rubio said Iran still had a limited quantity of oil that had bypassed restrictions during a brief ceasefire period, but that these supplies would soon be exhausted.

"The economic pressure is going to get even worse. I understand that these sanctions begin to compound. So, for example, Iran still has a small number of just a handful of barrels of oil left on the water that got past the blockade when there was the MoU and that brief ceasefire period. Once that dries up, almost all of their oil revenue will dry up," Rubio had said.

He added that the US Treasury Department, working alongside intelligence agencies, was continuing to close avenues through which Iran was attempting to circumvent sanctions.

Rubio described the economic pressure being imposed on Tehran as "extraordinary" and blamed the Iranian leadership for the country's worsening economic situation.

"The economic pain that is being inflicted on Iran right now and on that regime is extraordinary, and it compounds... It's all brought about by the fact that this radical regime of lunatics is imposing this on their own people. They're destroying their own country," he had said.

Rubio also maintained that Washington remained open to a diplomatic agreement with Tehran but questioned Iran's seriousness about negotiations.

"I think Iran would love a deal. The problem is the conditions they continue to place are absurd. They're not even serious right now. But that could change... US always stands ready. If there's a real deal to be done, we're open," he had said. (ANI)