The new head of Iran’s top security body warned Sunday that Tehran will regard any country’s support for new U.S. economic measures against the Islamic Republic as an “act of war,” while Iran’s president defended a memorandum of understanding with the United States as the best path out of the stalled conflict.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is expected on Monday to announce the new measures after the U.S. vowed to impose an “unprecedented” level of economic warfare and isolation on a country that has lived under sanctions for decades. Also on Monday, Pakistan’s army chief is expected to visit Iran as mediators seek to revive talks.

Meanwhile, attacks eased in the Strait of Hormuz, but the posturing did not. A recently created Iranian authority listed dozens of vessels it said will face restrictions on future transits.

Here is a look at the latest developments in the Iran war and the wider Middle East on Sunday. Full coverage can be found here.

The hard-line head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Mohsen Rezaei, issued his latest warning on X, and Iranian state media quickly circulated the comments.

His post came a day after Rezaei’s most extensive public remarks since he was named to the post this month.

“If (Trump) wants to do something, we will retaliate in a seismic manner,” he told state broadcaster in an interview that aired late Saturday. He said Iran would target other oil-shipping routes from the Persian Gulf as alternatives to the Strait of Hormuz.

Rezaei, a former Revolutionary Guard commander and military adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, was among a series of senior appointments widely seen as hardening Tehran’s political and military posture.

Earlier Sunday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said the memorandum of understanding signed in mid-June was the best way to move beyond a situation of “neither war nor peace,” adding that Tehran cannot attract investment nearly six months after the war began.

“There is not a single provision in this agreement that amounts to capitulation,” Pezeshkian said in a speech published by state-run IRNA. “The supreme leader sets the policies, and we will follow that path.”

The interim deal opened a 60-day period for talks aimed at ending the war and reaching an agreement on Iran’s nuclear program. That period ended last week with no sign of compromise or an extension, underscoring how little room remains between pressure measures and diplomacy as regional governments continue trying to keep channels open.

There were no confirmed attacks in the Strait of Hormuz over the past 48 hours, according to a multinational coalition overseen by the U.S. Navy, although shipping traffic remained reduced. The U.S. military said its blockade of Iranian ports had redirected 70 commercial ships and disabled three as of Sunday.

Iran’s recently created Persian Gulf Strait Authority, which has been sanctioned by the U.S., published a list of dozens of ships it said had violated arrangements for transiting the strait and would face future restrictions such as fines or seizures. The strait had been considered an international waterway before the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28.

Iran and Oman, on the other side of the strait, are now discussing management of it, which is likely to include ships paying fees.

Pakistani Field Marshal Asim Munir will lead a delegation to Tehran on Monday, Iranian state television reported, citing Iran Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei.

Two regional officials said the visit was part of Islamabad’s efforts to de-escalate tensions between the United States and Iran and urge both sides to return to the negotiating table. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

— By Munir Ahmed in Islamabad

The Iranian judiciary’s Mizan news agency reported the latest execution connected to nationwide protests earlier this year, saying Majid Adineh was arrested Jan. 9 in Mohammadshahr, west of Tehran.

The judiciary said forensic examinations indicated that the handgun found on him had been fired on Jan. 8 and 9. Mizan said Adineh had joined the unrest following calls by groups opposed to Iran’s government and alleged that he received training from groups outside the country. He was convicted under Iran’s law imposing harsher penalties for espionage and cooperation with hostile states.

In the occupied West Bank, police arrested a 16-year-old boy from the Israeli settlement of Avigayil in the beating of 61-year-old Palestinian Saeed Muhammad Ibrahim Rabah outside his home, a year after he lost a leg after being shot by a settler.

Rabah told The Associated Press that the violence at his home in Khirbet al-Rakeez on Saturday was an effort to make families leave, but “we will remain, no matter what happens.”

Separately, the West Bank Health Ministry said a 14-year-old in the Askar refugee camp in Nablus was shot dead by Israeli forces, which did not immediately comment. The uncle of Islam Maher Ajouri, Nehad Ajouri, called the shooting indiscriminate.

Israel’s military said it detained a suspect in a stabbing attack that wounded a 24-year-old Israeli man in the area of al-Auja in the West Bank. Israel’s emergency services said the man was in moderate condition.

In Gaza, four-year-old Mohammed Taha died after an Israeli airstrike hit a house in central Gaza on Sunday and wounded at least five others, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, which received the casualties.

Israel’s military later said it struck and killed a Hamas commander in central Gaza. The hospital confirmed that the man, Ismail Abu Ful, was killed.

An Israeli strike in southern Gaza wounded at least seven people, including three children, according to health officials at Nasser Hospital. The military did not immediately comment.

Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement that he instructed the military to “act immediately and forcefully” to prevent launches of balloons, kites or drones from Gaza toward nearby Israeli communities.

Before the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas-led militants on Israel, in which 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage, burning kites and balloons were sent from Gaza into southern Israel, causing fires and other damage.

Hamas said in a statement on Sunday that Israel was “using children’s toys as a pretext” for attacks and further displacement of Gaza residents.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com