On Saturday, Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, told Iranian state television that Iran is calling on all countries, including its neighbors, not to join the US's "economic war." He said any country that participates in imposing economic restrictions on Iran will be considered an enemy and warned of "hellish" retaliation.
Hamidreza Aziz, a researcher on Iran at the Klingendal Institute in the Netherlands, said that Iran appears to be trying to establish deterrence at an earlier stage by signaling that even preparations for an attack against Iran could provoke a response. Aziz stated that two elements are emerging in the new "offensive doctrine": 1) preemptive strikes, aimed at preventing perceived threats from becoming a reality; and 2) asymmetrical retaliation, aimed at increasing the cost of any actual attack. Iran's warning to Gulf states about joining Trump's economic war is essentially an ultimatum to them, and Iran's military and security apparatus is increasingly preparing for a new round of escalation.
