JAKARTA – Iran will consider any attack by the United States as the beginning of a war and Tehran will respond by attacking the ‘heart of Tel Aviv’, Israel, warned a senior political adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The warning comes as the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) prepares to hold naval exercises in the sensitive Strait of Hormuz. State television channel Press TV said the two-day live-fire exercise would begin on Sunday.
The exchange of aggressive statements between Washington and Tehran has escalated in the past week.
On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump warned Iran it faced a “much worse” attack than last year unless it started talks on its nuclear program.
Yesterday, the Tasnim news agency said the Iranian military had received a total of 1,000 drones.
“In accordance with the existing threats, the army maintains and improves its strategic superiority for quick battles and provides a devastating response to any aggressor,” said Iranian Military Commander Major General Amir Hatami, launching The National (30/1).
From the American side, the carrier strike group USS Abraham Lincoln has arrived in the Middle East, which means Washington has a major firepower within Iran’s reach.
Ship tracking sites on Thursday showed another US destroyer, the USS Delbert D Black, heading to the region.
The US has previously threatened to launch an attack over the Tehran regime’s deadly crackdown on national protests.
“Any military action by the US from any origin and at any level will be considered the beginning of a war and the response will be immediate, all-out, and unprecedented, targeting the heart of Tel Aviv and all parties supporting the aggressor,” Ali Shamkhani said on social media X.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also warned that Tehran would respond harshly to any attack, but did not rule out the possibility of a new nuclear deal.
Concerns about war initially eased when Trump refrained from carrying out airstrikes in support of anti-regime protesters in Iran. However, concerns have not gone away, with several Middle Eastern flights diverted or suspended due to high tensions.
It is known that the US and Iran have been engaged in negotiations aimed at reaching a nuclear deal, but talks stalled in June last year when Israel launched an attack on Tehran that escalated for 12 days. Later, the US joined in by attacking Iranian nuclear sites. Since then, Tehran has been careful to return to the negotiating table.
America’s goal in nuclear talks is to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear bomb. Tehran has long said it has no intention of doing so, but its stockpile of enriched uranium – at a level close to that of a nuclear weapon – has sounded alarms in foreign capitals.
Far earlier, Iran along with the US, China, France, Germany, Russia, Britain and the EU agreed to the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), under which sanctions against Iran were lifted in compensation for Tehran limiting its uranium enrichment.
However, Trump withdrew from the agreement during his first presidential term in 2018. After that, Iran openly violated the agreed restrictions.
Iranian authorities have blamed recent nationwide protests and related deaths on “foreign-backed” rioters, accusing the US and Israel of instigating violence and unrest. More than 6,300 people have died in the demonstrations, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists’ News Agency.
Trump said he had refrained from ordering military action against Tehran after being told that the killing in the demonstrations had abated and plans for mass executions had been halted.
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