Iran has indicated this Friday that all bases, posts, soldiers and ships of USA in Near East will be legitimate targets for their attacks in the event of a US intervention against the Islamic Republic.
During the last few weeks—and especially this last one— Washington has been expanding its presence and amassing its fleet around the coasts of the Persian country, in preparation for an attack that could even reach, this same weekendaccording to the American press. This Thursday, the president of USA, Donald Trumpassured that his country has given Iran a period of ten days to reach an agreement. If not, Trump said, “bad things will happen.”
“In the event that we are subject to a military aggressionwe will respond decisively and proportionately. All bases, installations and detachments of the hostile force in the region will be legitimate objectives in the exercise of our defense. USA will be fully and directly responsible for the uncontrolled and unpredictable consequences for this to happen,” reads the letter that Tehran has sent the secretary general of United Nations, Antonio Guterres.
In the event that we are subject to military aggression, we will respond decisively and proportionately (…) The US will be fully and directly responsible for the uncontrolled and unpredictable consequences of this occurring.
The threat is not new: the Iranian Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchiwho also leads the nuclear negotiations with the US, has been ensuring for weeks that a US attack would entail a guerra not bilateral between Washington and Tehran but regional. The fear in the Middle East is such that even countries that are enemies of Iran, such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt —which, in fact, has neither an embassy nor an ambassador in Tehran—have tried to mediate between the Islamic Republic and the United States.
Iran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi / European Press/Contact/Foad Ashtari
Apart from its fleet in Persian GulfWashington has military bases in Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait, Türkiye, Bahrain y United Arab Emiratesin addition to presence in other countries such as Syria e Irak. Israela great American ally in the region—and Washington’s partner in the conflict against Tehran—would also be on the Iranian list of legitimate objectives.
Protracted negotiations
The only thing that could prevent a US attack against Iran, thus, would be the achievement of an agreement in the talks between the two countries, which this week continued with a second round of talks in Ginebra, Swiss. Despite the good words from the Iranians at the end of the meeting, the talks show something clear: the differences between the claims Washington and Tehran are enormous and insurmountable, according to experts.
Iran—at least publicly—has proposed eliminating a small part of its enriched uranium at levels close to those necessary to develop the atomic bomb in exchange for the US withdrawing all its economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
They cannot continue to threaten the stability of the entire region and have to reach an agreement. And if that doesn’t happen, and I understand that it may not happen, bad things will happen.
Washington, for its part, claims to want to eliminate all Iranian uranium enrichment, in addition to Tehran promising limits on its ballistic missile program and help regional militias.
The agreement, to date, seems impossible, and experts in fact consider that Iran’s strategy is to prolong the negotiations and run the clock to eliminate the imminent risk of a US attack and get Trump distracted by another crisis, whether domestic or international.
US President Donald Trump ordered the deployment of the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier along with its battle group to Middle Eastern waters and has ordered the sending of another, the USS Gerald R. Ford (pictured), to pressure Iran, after Russia and Iran announced joint naval exercises in the Sea of Oman and the northern Indian Ocean, in order to strengthen security and coordination to confront maritime security threats, amid US military threats against Tehran. / U.S. Navy / EFE
For the moment, this strategy has not worked: “They cannot continue to threaten the stability of the entire region and they have to reach an agreement,” said the head of the White House this Thursday. And if that doesn’t happen, and I understand it might not happen, bad things will happen.”
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