Tehran, Feb 1 (.) Iran has warned that any US attack on its vital infrastructure would provoke sweeping retaliation, including the disruption of major international waterways, as well as attacks against all US forces across the Middle East, a senior Iranian security official told state-media on Sunday.
Salar Velayatmadar, a member of Iran’s parliamentary national security and foreign policy committee, said Tehran was ready to respond forcefully if Washington tried targeting any of its infrastructure, energy facilities, or export terminals.
“If Americans want to threaten our vital infrastructure like the energy sector or our export terminals, they themselves know that certainly the Strait of Hormuz and Bab al-Mandab will be closed and the Suez Canal will definitely become insecure,” Velayatmadar told Didban Iran.
Velayatmadar further mocked the idea that military pressure could ever convince Tehran to back down, saying the country was fully prepared to respond.
“Our finger is on the trigger,” he said, adding that any mistake by the United States would result in consequences “far more severe than before.”
He also warned that US military bases in countries surrounding Iran would become targets if Washington escalated, drawing the entire region into conflict.
Dismissing Trump’s militant rhetoric as all-bark, Velayatmadar slammed the naval posturing argued that bringing warships closer to Iran would make them vulnerable, suggesting it was a sign the US was not seeking open war.
In his view, a direct conflict would only occur if Washington committed what he called a “suicidal” act, one that would inevitably have global repercussions due to Iran’s leverage over key maritime routes.
The country’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei further warning of regional repercussions, said that any armed conflict initiated by the US would spread beyond Iran’s borders, initiating a regional security threat, slamming the attempts at military intimidation as a tired old routine which Iran was very familiar with.
“America should know that if it starts a war, this time it will be a regional war,” Khamenei said, adding that Iranians would not be intimidated by this kind of military posturing.
“We are not the ones to start anything and we do not want to attack any country, but the Iranian nation will deliver a strong punch to anyone who attacks and harasses it,” he said.
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