The warning came as Iran scrambled to contain a deepening economic crisis, with its currency hitting fresh lows and officials introducing new measures to manage the impact of widening US sanctions.
US President Donald Trump signalled that a major decision on Iran could be imminent, saying Tehran will face either the “easy way or the hard way” as the United States ramps up pressure.
Speaking outside the White House on Saturday, Trump declined to reveal what action he is considering or when it might be announced. Asked about his plans on Friday, Trump refused to provide details, saying any disclosure would immediately become a major news story. He nevertheless signalled that the United States was prepared to increase pressure on Tehran. “We have a decision that I’ll make about Iran. Iran’s been decimated. So the only question is, it’ll either be the easy way or the hard way. But you’ll see. Working out very well.
We’ll have it the easy way or the hard way,” Trump said. “If I told you, you’d have a major story, right? Iran is not doing well,” he said. The Trump administration has repeatedly said preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon remains a central US national-security objective.
The president had struck a similar tone a day earlier.
Writing on X, Pezeshkian accused the United States and its allies of attempting to choke off Iran’s economic lifelines in recent months.
On Saturday, President Masoud Pezeshkian said the government had introduced a “new arrangement” to deal with what he described as extraordinary economic conditions created by external pressure. He said, however, that government measures and public cooperation had prevented those efforts from achieving their intended goals.
