Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran will continue attacks against the United States and Israel ‘as long as necessary’
Iran promised this Tuesday (10) to fight for as long as necessary and warned that not a liter of oil from the Gulf will be exported while the war against the United States and Israel continues, a conflict that, according to President Donald Trump, “it will end soon”.
“We are prepared to continue missile attacks against them for as long as necessary and whenever necessary,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told the American channel PBS News.
Furthermore, in a scenario of volatile oil prices due to the war and the de facto blockade of Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of oil and liquefied natural gas passes consumed around the world, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard intensified the pressure.
“The Iranian Armed Forces (…) will not allow the export of a single liter of oil from the region to the hostile party and its allies until further notice,” warned the ideological army of the Islamic Republic.
close to the new supreme leader, Mojataba Khamenei, in a statement released by the Iranian press.
A few hours earlier, during a press conference in Florida, Trump said: “This will be over soon.”
To ease prices, Trump declared, without revealing the details, that he would lift oil-related sanctions for some countries, after having a “positive” conversation, according to him, with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
Russian oil is under Western sanctions due to the invasion of Ukraine.
Despite Trump’s statements, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated this Tuesday that “we are not finished yet” in Iran and highlighted that the offensive is “breaking the bones” of the Tehran regime.
The American president’s comments caused a sharp drop in oil prices, which currently fluctuate between 86 and 90 dollars a barrel, and rises in stock markets, both at the close in Asia and at the open in Europe. Gas prices in Europe were also falling.
Unclear objectives
In 10 days, the United States attacked more than 5,000 targets, including more than 50 Iranian ships, announced the American Armed Forces on Monday.
Bombings by the United States and Israel left more than 1,200 people dead in 10 days, according to Iran. The AFP is unable to verify the figures published with independent sources.
On Monday night, the Israeli Army announced a new wave of “large-scale” bombings against Tehran, where the state press reported attacks in the capital and in Khomein, in the center of the country.
As far as the aims of the war are concerned, Donald Trump did not speak clearly.
Washington has called for regime change or the formation of a government in Tehran aligned with its interests. Trump said on Monday that he was “not happy” with the appointment as supreme leader of Mojtaba Khamenei, son of Ali Khamenei, murdered on February 28, at the start of the Israeli-American military campaign.
The Trump administration says it intends to destroy Iran’s ballistic capabilities and prevent the country from developing the atomic bomb. An intention that Tehran has always denied having.
Non-Gulf attacks
Iran continues retaliatory attacks against Israeli territory and the oil infrastructure of its neighbors in the Gulf region.
The United Arab Emirates government reported this Tuesday that the country was the target of attacks with Iranian drones and missiles; Kuwait and Saudi Arabia announced that they shot down drones.
Bahrain reported two deaths in an Iranian attack on a residential building in Manama, the country’s capital.
Dubai, the commercial and tourist center of the Emirates, has an important Iranian community that is also affected by the Islamic Republic’s attacks.
On the battlefront in Lebanon, thousands of kilometers from Iran, Israel returned to bombing the south and east of the country this Tuesday, national news agency ANI reported.
Israel has been bombing Lebanon since the Lebanese pro-Iranian Hezbollah movement dragged the country into the regional war on March 2by launching missiles against Israeli territory.
On Monday, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun accused Hezbollah of wanting to cause the country’s collapse in the service of Iran. He called for “direct negotiations” with Israel to bring about an end to the conflict. The two countries do not maintain diplomatic relations.
The Israeli attacks left at least 486 dead and more than half a million displaced, according to Lebanese authorities. Numbers that AFP is also unable to verify with independent sources.
*AFP
