'Addicted To Sanctions': Iran Takes Swipe At US, Says Washington Is 'Incapable' Of Diplomacy

Published 11 August 2026 · world

News world 'Addicted To Sanctions': Iran Takes Swipe At US, Says Washington Is 'Incapable' Of Diplomacy 'Addicted To Sanctions': Iran Takes Swipe At US, Says

News world 'Addicted To Sanctions': Iran Takes Swipe At US, Says Washington Is 'Incapable' Of Diplomacy 'Addicted To Sanctions': Iran Takes Swipe At US, Says Washington Is 'Incapable' Of Diplomacy Published By, Last Updated: August 11, 2026, 05:42 IST Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei made the comments after the US last week imposed fresh sanctions targeting Iran’s financial networks. Motorists drive past a large billboard pledging revenge against US President Donald Trump along Jomhouri Street in central Tehran. (AFP file photo) Iran on Tuesday accused the United States of being “addicted" to sanctions, with the country’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei taking a sharp swipe at Washington’s economic pressure campaign against Tehran. Baqaei made the remarks in a post on X after Washington last week imposed fresh sanctions targeting Iran’s financial networks, with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent saying the pressure was effectively “suffocating" the country’s leadership.

Iran Calls Sanctions A ‘Habit’ Baqaei said Washington’s repeated reliance on sanctions reflected what he called its inability to pursue diplomacy. “The US Secretary of the Treasury has boasted of “suffocating" Iran through economic sanctions," Baqaei said, describing the claim as evidence of America’s “compulsive addiction to sanctions." He argued that the US turns to sanctions whenever diplomatic efforts fail to achieve its objectives, and then increases the pressure when the measures do not produce the desired results. The US Secretary of the Treasury has boasted of “suffocating" Iran through economic sanctions.Beyond its sheer pathos, the claim is a stark testament to America’s compulsive addiction to sanctions. Whenever Washington proves itself incapable of pursuing diplomacy, it retreats… — Esmaeil Baqaei (@IRIMFA_SPOX) August 10, 2026 “Whenever Washington proves itself incapable of pursuing diplomacy, it retreats into sanctions; and whenever those sanctions fail to produce results, it simply increases the dose," Baqaei said.

“This is no longer ‘policy’—it is ‘habit’; and more dangerously still, it is an addiction that has displaced thought itself," he added. Tehran Warns Of ‘Humiliating Exit’ Baqaei said Iran had demonstrated over decades that it would not be forced into submission by sanctions, dismissing what he called Washington’s “exhausted refrains." He warned that continued reliance on economic pressure could instead hurt the United States’ own prospects of resolving the confrontation with Tehran. “The real risk is that American politicians, clinging to this bad habit, will instead strangle their own remaining chances of a less humiliating exit from a crisis of their own making," Baqaei said. News18 Newsletter Handpicked stories, in your inbox A newsletter with the best of our journalism submit About the Author News Desk The News Desk is a team of passionate editors and writers who break and analyse the most important events unfolding in India and abroad.