Iran’s leader warns US any attack will spark ‘regional war’

Iran’s supreme leader has warned that any attack by the US would spark a “regional war” in the Middle East, further escalating tensions as President Donald Trump has threatened to militarily strike the Islamic Republic over its crackdown on recent nationwide protests.

The comments from the 86-year-old Ayatollah Ali Khamenei are the most direct threat he has made so far as the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and associated American warships are in the Arabian Sea, sent there by Mr Trump after Tehran’s bloody crackdown on nationwide protests.

It remains unclear whether Mr Trump will use force. He has repeatedly said Iran wants to negotiate and has brought up Tehran’s nuclear programme as another issue he wants to see resolved.

But Ayatollah Khamenei also referred to the nationwide protests as “a coup”, hardening the government’s position as tens of thousands of people have reportedly been detained since the start of the demonstrations.

Sedition charges in Iran can carry the death penalty, which again renews concerns about Tehran carrying out mass executions for those arrested — a red line for Mr Trump.

Iran had also planned a live-fire military drill for Sunday and Monday in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all oil traded passes.

The US military’s Central Command had warned against threatening American warships or aircraft during the drill or disrupting commercial traffic.

Ayatollah Khamenei spoke to a crowd at his compound in Tehran as Iran marked the start of a days-long commemoration of the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.

He, at one point, described the US as being interested in Iran’s oil, natural gas and other mineral resources, saying that they wanted to “seize this country, just as they controlled it before”.

“The Americans must be aware that if they wage a war this time, it will be a regional war,” he said.

The supreme leader added that: “We are not the instigators, we are not going to be unfair to anyone, we don’t plan to attack any country. But if anyone shows greed and wants to attack or harass, the Iranian nation will deal a heavy blow to them.”

Asked about the warning, Mr Trump told reporters on Sunday that the US “has the biggest, most powerful ships in the world over there, very close, a couple of days, and hopefully we’ll make a deal. If we don’t make a deal, then we’ll find out whether or not he was right”.

Ayatollah Khamenei also hardened his position on the demonstrations after earlier acknowledging some people had legitimate economic grievances that sparked their protests.

The demonstrations began on December 28, initially over the collapse of Iran’s rial currency. It soon grew into a direct challenge to Ayatollah Khamenei’s rule.

“The recent sedition was similar to a coup. Of course, the coup was suppressed,” he said.

“Their goal was to destroy sensitive and effective centres involved in running the country, and for this reason they attacked the police, government centres, (Revolutionary Guard) facilities, banks and mosques — and burned copies of the Koran. They targeted centres that run the country.”

The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which relies on a network inside Iran to verify its information, reports that more than 49,500 people have been detained in the crackdown.

It says the violence killed at least 6,713 people, the vast majority of them demonstrators.

The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the death toll and arrest figures, given that authorities have cut Iran’s internet off from the rest of the world.

As of January 21, Iran’s government put the death toll at a far lower 3,117, saying 2,427 were civilians and security forces, labelling the rest “terrorists”.

In the past, Iran’s theocracy has undercounted or not reported fatalities from unrest.

That death toll exceeds that of any other round of protest or unrest in Iran in decades and recalls the chaos surrounding the 1979 revolution.

Meanwhile, the speaker of Iran’s parliament said that the Islamic Republic now considered all European Union militaries to be terrorist groups, lashing out after the bloc declared the country’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard a terror group over taking part in the crackdown.

Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, a former Guard commander, announced the terror designation, which will likely be mostly symbolic.

Iran has used a 2019 law to reciprocally declare other nations’ militaries terror groups following the United States declaration of the Guard a terror group that year.

Mr Qalibaf made the announcement as he and others in parliament wore Guard uniforms in support of the force.

The Guard, which also controls Iran’s ballistic missile arsenal and has vast economic interests in Iran, answers only to Ayatollah Khamenei.

“By seeking to strike at the (Guard), which itself has been the greatest barrier to the spread of terrorism to Europe, Europeans have in fact shot themselves in the foot and, once again, through blind obedience to the Americans, decided against the interests of their own people,” Mr Qalibaf said.

Politicians at the session later chanted “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”

Mr Trump has laid out two red lines for military action: the killing of peaceful protesters or the possible mass execution of those detained in a major crackdown over the demonstrations.

Speaking on Saturday night, Mr Trump declined to say whether he had made a decision on what he wanted to do regarding Iran.

Speaking to reporters, the US president sidestepped a question about whether Tehran would be emboldened if America backed away from launching strikes on Iran, saying: “Some people think that. Some people don’t.”

Mr Trump said Iran should negotiate a “satisfactory” deal to prevent the Middle Eastern country from getting any nuclear weapons, but said: “I don’t know that they will. But they are talking to us. Seriously talking to us.”