A senior Iranian official warned that war with the United States will continue unless Washington respects Tehran’s interests.
Mohammad Mokhber says to CNN in Tehran that Iran “will respond more severely and forcefully” to any future US attacks, adding that the fate of the war depends on Washington’s actions.
“Whenever they (the US) attack, we respond with more severity and more force,” he said. “(US President Donald Trump) needs to understand that the Islamic Republic will not back down or give up its independence and national interests. And we will make the aggressors regret it.”
Asked if he believed a war between Iran and the US could be resumed, Mokhber said the decision was up to Washington.
“This issue is in his hands. If they respect Iran’s interests and act accordingly, the war will end. Otherwise, the war will continue.”
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they carried out retaliatory strikes after the US military strike on Iran overnight.
Second night of attacks
The United States and Iran exchanged airstrikes on Thursday, and President Donald Trump threatened more strikes if Tehran did not immediately agree to a peace deal, but Iranian sources said talks on a preliminary agreement had intensified.
Three Iranian sources and a European official said the US and Iran were exchanging messages on the details of a memorandum after reaching a political understanding, but some issues still needed to be discussed in detail, including a mechanism for releasing billions of dollars in frozen Iranian funds.
“This war, from a military point of view, is a dead end. The Americans would not be able to achieve their objectives by attacking Iran. There has been progress in negotiations,” said one of the Iranian sources.
Trump has repeatedly said a deal is close, but U.S. officials did not immediately comment on the current status of the indirect negotiations.
American bases under attack: In Jordan, Americans were warned to shelter in place. The IRGC said it had “destroyed facilities and a large number of combat aircraft” at Al-Azraq air base, according to state media. Kuwait has closed its airspace and anti-aircraft defenses are engaged with “hostile objects”, state media reported, citing the country’s army. Sirens sounded in Bahrain, according to the country’s Interior Ministry.
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