In the long contest between sovereign defiance and imperial economic reach, Iran's security chief has drawn a new line — warning that nations joining America's sanctions campaign will be treated as enemies of Tehran. The declaration, made as the Trump administration presses allies including China to isolate Iran's economy, reflects a world fracturing along the fault lines of economic coercion, where compliance with one power invites retaliation from another. For smaller and middle nations caught between Washington and Tehran, the space for neutrality is narrowing, and the cost of choosing side