A day after President Donald Trump repeated his threats against the Middle Eastern country, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragushi warned the United States that Iran would “retaliate with all its might if exposed to new attacks.”
Araguchi’s warning came in an opinion piece published in the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday.
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“Our powerful military will have no hesitation in fighting back with all its might in the event of a new attack,” he wrote, referring to the 12-day war Israel launched against Iran last June.
The Foreign Secretary insisted this was not a “threat” but “a reality that I feel needs to be clearly communicated because as a diplomat and a veteran I abhor war.”
He added: “An all-out showdown would certainly be intense and last far longer than the fantasy timeline that Israel and its proxies are trying to push to the White House. It would undoubtedly involve a much wider region and affect ordinary people around the world.”
Iran closed its airspace last week, perhaps in anticipation of a U.S. attack. Diplomats from Middle Eastern countries, especially Gulf Arab states, urged President Trump not to attack.
The aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln, which had been sailing in the South China Sea in recent days, passed through the Straits of Malacca, a key waterway connecting the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean, on Tuesday, according to ship tracking data.
Although U.S. defense officials did not say explicitly that the carrier strike group was heading to the Middle East, its location in the Indian Ocean means it is only days away from moving there.
President Trump’s latest threats
Aragushi’s comments came a day after President Trump repeatedly warned that Iran would be wiped “off the face of the earth” if it succeeded in assassinating the U.S. leader.
“I have very firm instructions: No matter what happens, they’re going to be wiped off the face of this earth,” Trump said in a News Nation interview that aired Tuesday.
Earlier on Tuesday, Iranian General Abolfazlu Shekarchi was quoted as saying that President Trump already knew that Iran would not push back against any threat to Khamenei if the tables were turned.
Iran’s state media quoted Shekarchi news agency as saying, “President Trump knows that if an attack is made on our leader, we will not only cut off his hands, but this is not just a slogan.” “But we will set their world on fire and leave no safe haven in the region.”
President Trump issued a similar warning to Iran a year ago, shortly after returning to the White House, telling reporters: “If they do that, they’re going to be wiped out.”
deadly protests
Iran remains reeling from violence during the largest anti-government demonstrations since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Human rights groups are working to confirm the number of people killed during the protests. The US-based Human Rights Defenders News Agency said the death toll had reached at least 4,519 people and more than 26,300 people had been arrested.
On Sunday, Iranian officials in the region told Reuters that authorities had confirmed at least 5,000 people had been killed in the protests, including about 500 security personnel, and accused “terrorists and armed mobs” of killing “innocent Iranians.”
Iranian authorities have increasingly blamed foreign powers for the unrest, accusing longtime geopolitical rivals, mainly Israel and the United States, of fomenting instability and directing operations on the ground.
Al Jazeera has not been able to independently assess the death toll.
Despite the internet shutdown, videos leaked from Iran show security forces repeatedly firing live ammunition at apparently unarmed protesters, without Araghchi taking action.
