POLITICS & POLICY

Iran calls for global pushback against U.S. sanctions, says diplomacy ‘isn’t impossible’

PUBLISHED THU, AUG 27 202610:29 PM EDTUPDATED 6 HOURS AGO

KEY POINTS

• Iran urged countries to reject U.S. sanctions as Tehran sets conditions for the Strait of Hormuz reopening.

• Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said renewed talks with Washington remain possible if U.S. pressure eases.

• Oil prices dipped on Friday as market participants closely monitored crude flows through Hormuz.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry on Friday called on “all countries” not to implement U.S. sanctions against Tehran, warning that doing so would represent “complicity” in imposing the “illegal will” of the United States.

The comments were laid out in a two-page letter published via Telegram, as the country set its conditions for reopening the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz and touted the prospect of a return to diplomatic negotiations.

The White House announced an “economic D-Day” campaign against Tehran earlier in the week, threatening countries that do business with the Islamic Republic and shifting its focus from military action to economic pressure after six months of war.

U.S. President Donald Trump made clear on Thursday that Washington is not talking with Iran, telling reporters in the Oval Office:“We ‌don’t want to speak to them. We’re not looking to meet or anything.”

Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, however, said via X on Friday that “putting diplomacy back on track isn’t impossible.”

Araghchi said thatfollowing “creative discussions” with Qatari officials on Thursday to reopen a safe transit route through the strait, the potential for renewed negotiations with Washington “hinges on U.S. understanding of one simple fact: pressure doesn’t work.”

He added, “The U.S. should build trust, speak respectfully, acknowledge our rights, and uphold commitments.”

Oil prices traded slightly lower on Friday as energy market participants continued to closely monitor crude flows through the Strait of Hormuz.

International benchmark Brent crude

futures with October delivery dipped 0.1% to $89.63 per barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate

futures with October delivery fell 0.5% to $83.11.

Tehran: Lebanon, Gaza and Syrian conflicts must cease

In an interview Thursday, Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, told Lebanese media outlet Al Manar TV that any understanding on the Strait of Hormuz with the U.S. will include an end to wars and military operations in Lebanon, Gaza and Syria.

He added that the conflict in the Gaza Strip has to end, while demanding that Israel withdraw from Lebanon and halt attacks on Syria.

Rezaei said that the Strait of Hormuz cannot be separated from the broader regional conflict, adding that the U.S. must “prove its seriousness” in implementing these commitments “before any new trust could be established.”

However, a return to diplomacy does not seem imminent. The Wall Street Journalreported on Thursday that the Trump administration has no interest in going back to the terms of the memorandum of understanding it reached with Iran in June.

Citing people familiar with the matter, the Journal said that Trump was no longer interested in the June deal framework, and is instead waiting to see if his administration’s strategy of pressuring Iran economically will work.

Temporary relief

Iran is now allowing a “temporary and limited” corridor for ships to pass through the Hormuz Strait, and the future of maritime traffic will depend on developments in understandings with Washington, according to Rezaei.

Earlier this week, Oman and Iran discussed a proposal to establish a temporary joint shipping route through the Strait of Hormuz as well as a mission to clear mines from the key oil export corridor.

However, a video posted on X late Thursday stateside by Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of U.S. Central Command credited U.S. forces for clearing the mines from the strait.

Centcom forces have helped facilitate the transit of approximately 1,500 commercial vessels and 750 million barrels of crude oil over the past several months, Cooper said. “Today, international shipping lanes are open, and momentum is building.”

However, the latest available Kpler datashowed that only five ships crossed Hormuz on Tuesday, a far cry from the approximately 130 ships a day that used to transit the crucial waterway before the war broke out in February.

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/08/28/us-iran-war-trump-hormuz-oman-centcom.html

Bessent attacks Warren over yen intervention query, offers ‘Foreign Exchange for Dummies’ lesson

PUBLISHED FRI, AUG 28 20263:23 PM EDTUPDATED

KEY POINTS

• Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent attacked Sen. Elizabeth Warren over an error in her letter questioning the U.S. intervention to support the Japanese yen, offering a lesson on “Foreign Exchange for Dummies.”

•Warren’s letter incorrectly suggested Japan could owe Treasury money, but later correctly described the transaction as a sale of euros for yen.

• Bessent’s response did not disclose the size, execution rate or current value of the U.S. yen purchase, leaving several of Warren’s questions unanswered.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessentunleashed a scathing personal attack on Sen. Elizabeth Warren Friday, accusing the Massachusetts Democrat of misunderstanding foreign exchange markets while leaving several of her questions about a rare U.S. intervention in the Japanese yen unanswered.

“In her latest sciolistic letter to me, @SenWarren made it clear that she knows even less about foreign exchange markets than she does about banking,”Bessent wrote on X about the top Democrat on the Senate banking committee. He offered Warren and her staff a tutorial on “Foreign Exchange for Dummies” and accused the news media of failing to identify what he called her “remedial error.” KEK

Warren fired back by pointing to a string of recent setbacks for the Treasury secretary.

“Tough couple weeks for Sec. Bessent,” Warren wrote on X Friday. “His effort to prop up a foreign currency hasn’t worked. His failed intervention in Treasury markets was blasted by his mentor as burning ‘two centuries’ of credibility. Trump’s economy is crushing families. Maybe he should focus on that.”

Bessent was responding to an Aug. 13 letter from Warren, seeking details about Treasury’s decision to sell euros from its Exchange Stabilization Fund and purchase yen after the Japanese currency fell to a 40-year low.

Warren’s opening paragraph incorrectly suggested, according to Bessent, that Japan owed money to Treasury, when the senator wrote that “American taxpayers would ultimately bear the cost if Japan were unable to repay” the department.

“Treasury exchanged existing Exchange Stabilization Fund foreign-currency assets for yen,” Bessent wrote in his response, dated Thursday. “No new congressional appropriation was involved, and no credit was extended to Japan. Japan owes Treasury nothing.”

Despite the opening phrasing, Warren’s letter later correctly described the intervention as a sale of euros for yen, explicitly noting that Japan had not borrowed from the Treasury or the Federal Reserve.

Bessent defended the intervention as necessary to protect U.S. economic interests, arguing that a disorderly yen could destabilize global markets and raise U.S. borrowing costs. However, his one-page response left several of Warren’s questions unanswered.

Most notably, Bessent did not disclose how much yen Treasury bought, the execution rate or the position’s current value, even though a July 31 Reuters photoshows Bessent’s notepad reading, “Buy Japanese Yen (JPY) $5-10 bil.” He also did not say whether the European Central Bank was consulted before the euro sale or provide the detailed legal justification Warren requested.

The intervention marked the first coordinated U.S.-Japan effort to strengthen the yen since 1998. Japan spent 15.4 trillion yen, or about $96.5 billion, supporting its currency between July 30 and Aug. 26, a record for the period, according to Japanese Finance Ministry data released Friday.

Rather than dwelling on “petty grievances with Senator Warren,” Bessent “should focus … on reducing the cost of living for the American families struggling in President Trump’s economy,” Senate banking committee Democratic spokeswoman Saloni Sharma said in a statement.

The Treasury Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/08/28/bessent-warren-yen-intervention-treasury-japan.html

Donald J. Trump

@realDonaldTrump

Laura Ingraham: “Year-to-date, the goods and services deficit decreased $189.3 billion, or 33.8 percent, from the same period in 2025. Exports increased $198.3 billion or 11.7 percent. Imports increased $9.0 billion or 0.4 percent.”SO MUCH FOR THE TARRIFFS dragging down the economy — they're doing precisely what they were intended to do— level the playing field so our manufacturing can compete fairly and thrive.

EXCELLENT news!

Exports from January to June of each year:

Jan-June 2024: $1.599 trillion

Jan-June 2025: $1.693 trillion

Jan-June 2026: $1.891 trillion

A tribute to HIM."

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