Iran threatened that it would retaliate any attack targeting it, in response to the US decision to send military reinforcements to Gulf states, where head of the Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Maj-Gen Hossein Salami asserted that Tehran will pursue any aggressor, even if it carries out a limited attack.
“Whoever wants their land to become the main battlefield, go ahead,” he told a news conference in Tehran.
Salami asserted that Iran will never allow any war to encroach upon its territory, hoping that other states don’t make a strategic mistake.
Salami's comments come a week after attacks on Aramco’s oil facilities in Saudi Arabia, which were adopted by Houthi rebels in Yemen, but Riyadh and Washington attributed to Iran.
Earlier this month, missile attacks targeted Khurais oil facility in eastern Saudi Arabia, and the largest crude oil refinery in the world located in Abqaiq, about two hundred kilometers northeast of Khurais.
The attacks have raised fears of a military confrontation between Iran and the US, especially after the Tehran downed a US drone in June.
Salami was speaking at Tehran’s Islamic Revolution and Holy Defense museum during the unveiling of an exhibition of what Iran says are US and other drones captured in its territory.
“What are your drones doing in our airspace? We will shoot them down, shoot anything that encroaches on our airspace,” Salami addressed Washington, noting Iran had overcome “US technological dominance” in air defense and drone manufacture.
The conference also featured a badly damaged drone with US military markings said to be an RQ-4 Global Hawk that Iran downed in June, as well as an intact RQ-170 Sentinel captured in 2011.
“We will target anyone who violates our borders. This issue is clear and we announce it clearly, so that you know that we will announce any action we do,” he asserted.
Meanwhile, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif warned Thursday of an “all-out war” if the US or Saudi Arabia launches military strikes in retaliation.
“I make a very serious statement about defending our country. I am making a very serious statement that we don’t want to engage in a military confrontation,” he said, adding that a military response based on “deception” about the weekend attacks would cause “a lot of casualties.”
US State Secretary Mike Pompeo said the US is still striving to build out a coalition in an act of diplomacy while Iran’s FM is threatening with war.
“We'd like a peaceful resolution,” asserted Pompeo, hoping Iran sees it the same way.
Earlier, US President Donald Trump said he believed his military restraint so far showed “strength,” as he instead imposed another round of economic sanctions on Tehran.
“Because the easiest thing I could do, ‘Okay, go ahead. Knock out 15 different major things in Iran... But I’m not looking to do that if I can,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
Tensions have been on the rise between Iran and the US since Washington unilaterally withdrew in May 2018 from a nuclear deal and subsequent tough sanctions on Iran.
On Friday, Trump announced new sanctions against Iran's banking sector, especially the central bank, and US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said this means there will be no money going to IRGC.
Zarif also condemned the most recent US sanctions against Iran’s Central Bank and its national reserve fund, saying “it is a sign of desperation,” insisting that the sanctions are directed at the Iranian people who will not be able to get food and medicine.
The FM noted that the US pulled out of the deal and the negotiating table is open and “it was the US who left it.”
However, Zarif indicated that in the world of diplomacy nothing is impossible, but in the current conditions, it does not seem like an arrangement can be made in the remaining few days.
