US President Donald Trump said he was imposing a tariff rate of 25 percent on any country that does business with Iran, as an anonymous Iranian official reportedly said 2,000 protesters have been killed in the crackdown.
“Effective immediately, any country doing business with the Islamic Republic of Iran will pay a tariff of 25% on any and all business being done with the United States of America,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Monday.
US tariff hike on goods from any nation, including China, Russia, India and Turkey, means higher prices for American importers.
A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in the US, Liu Pengyu, wrote on X: “Tariff wars and trade wars have no winners, and coercion and pressure cannot solve problems.”
China is Iran’s largest trading partner and accounts for approximately 30 percent of Iran’s total foreign trade.
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“China firmly opposes any illicit unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction, and will take all necessary measures to safeguard its legitimate rights and interests,” Pengyu said.
Iran’s foreign minister said Tehran is ready for either “war” or dialogue and is keeping lines of communication with the US open.
On Tuesday, the virtual US embassy for Iran warned American citizens to leave the country immediately without assistance from the US government as nationwide unrest continues to escalate.
“Leave Iran now,” the embassy said in a security alert, adding, “If you cannot leave, find a secure location within your residence or another safe building.”
“If safe to do so, consider departing Iran by land to Armenia or Turkey,” the embassy said.
The United States does not have a physical diplomatic presence in Iran, and Switzerland serves as the protecting power for the US.
‘Sowing chaos’
Around 2,000 people, including civilians and security personnel, have been killed in the protests, an Iranian official told Reuters. Human rights groups had previously tallied around 640 deaths. More than 10,700 people have been arrested, according to US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency
The organisation said that Iran has been under an internet blackout for over 100 hours.
Iranians have been protesting since 28 December, when traders at Tehran’s Grand Bazar staged a strike following the sharp decline in the value of the Iranian currency to historic lows and rising inflation.
The foreign intervention Iranians want is the lifting of sanctions, experts say
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On 12 January, the open-market traded 1,457,000 rials per $1 as inflation in the country reached 42 percent in December amid crippling US sanctions.
Officials in Iran have accused the US and Israel of backing “armed rioters” who have carried out several attacks in public places, including mosques.
Iran has warned that it will strike Israel and US military bases in the event of strikes on Iranian territory.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Sunday that the US and Israel want to “sow chaos and disorder” in Iran by ordering “riots”.
Three Israeli sources who were present at Israeli security consultations over the weekend told Reuters that Israel was on high-alert, but did not elaborate on what that entailed.
Israel and Iran fought a 12-day war in June, during which the US joined Israel in striking Iranian soil.
Trump on Sunday said that his administration is closely monitoring the situation in Iran.
“The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.
Asked about Iran’s threats of retaliation, he said: “If they do that, we will hit them at levels that they’ve never been hit before.”
