Iran warns of ‘more painful’ response to U.S. attacks as economic pressure mounts

U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said the Trump administration may not reach an agreement preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon as the conflict enters its seventh month. “There may not be a nuclear agreement,” Wright said on ABC News. “It may be simply destroying their capabilities to do it.” He said the United States is degrading Iran’s capacity to develop and deliver nuclear weapons, describing the effort as 47 years old and saying Washington will work with regional allies. Wright said President Donald Trump still prefers a negotiated settlement, but identified stopping Iranian crude, crude-related products and natural-gas exports as the military’s immediate regional priority. The pressure is intended to force a policy change by the existing regime or its replacement. Iranian parliament speaker and top negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf warned that further attacks would draw a “faster, heavier, and more painful” response. He also cited exchange-rate volatility, inflation, unemployment and market-management problems, while calling for more domestic production and technology. U.S. forces struck three Iranian crude carriers. U.S. Central Command said one was permanently disabled off Kharg Island and another near Jask; a third was attacked in the Gulf of Oman. The strikes followed Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps ballistic-missile attacks on two Navy ships. No U.S. personnel were harmed. CENTCOM commander Admiral Brad Cooper warned of higher economic costs, while Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Iranian oil tankers would be destroyed if Iran attacked U.S. Navy vessels. Iran, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ third-largest producer, shipped 90% of its crude through Kharg Island before the war. A U.S. blockade begun in mid-April has disrupted flows, and fighting has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz. Supreme National Security Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaei said Tehran plans a new restriction zone outside the strait. Treasury sanctions on a small Turkish investment bank and two subsidiaries followed broader late-August measures targeting Iranian digital assets, advanced-technology procurement, gold, aviation and shipping. World Bank data showed GDP contracted 2.7% in the year ended March, inflation reached 62.2% in February and food inflation 99%. An Iranian official estimated one million jobs were lost.