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Iran threatens ‘all out war’ that would cause ‘a lot of casualties’ if attacked .
It is the starkest warning yet to be issued by Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammed Javad Zarif
Iran has warned that any attack on the country in retaliation for drone and missile strikes on Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities, will lead to an ‘all out war’. In rhetoric that will likely inflame tensions in the Persian Gulf further, Iranian foreign minister Mohammed Javad Zarif, said any such conflict between the United States, Saudi Arabia and Iran would lead to ‘a lot of casualties’. It is the starkest warning yet to be issued by Iran, in a long summer of incidents that has led to attacks and seizure of tankers and the collapse of Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers, after US president Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew America from the accord. Mr Zarif made his comments after US secretary of state Mike Pompeo, referred to the attack on Saudi Arabia’s facilities on Saturday as ‘an act of war’. In comments made to CNN, Mr Zarif also said that the country did not want to ‘engage in military confrontation’, but ‘wouldn’t blink to defend our territory’. He added: ‘I am making a very serious statement that we don’t want to engage in a military confrontation. But we won’t blink to defend our territory.’
Mr Zarif also said that if any future negotiations were to be considered over the country’s nuclear programme or over current issues, then sanctions on the country would have to be lifted. He added: ‘They’ve done whatever they could and they haven’t been able to bring us to our knees.’ Mr Pompeo has now arrived in the United Arab Emirates. America’s top diplomat met earlier on Thursday with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Jeddah over Saturday’s attack on a crucial oil processing facility and oil field, which halved the kingdom’s oil production.
Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for the attack, but the US alleges Iran carried out the assault. Mr Pompeo tweeted: ‘The US stands with Saudi Arabia and supports its right to defend itself. ‘The Iranian regime’s threatening behaviour will not be tolerated.’ President Trump has remained vague on whether he would order US military retaliation. On Wednesday, he announced that he was moving to increase financial sanctions on Tehran over the attack, without elaborating. Iran has already had crippling sanctions imposed on it, which have targeted its crucial oil industry.
Mr Pompeo met Abu Dhabi’s powerful crown prince, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. The UAE is a close ally of Saudi Arabia and joined the kingdom in its war in Yemen against the Houthis. The country also announced on Thursday that it had joined a US-led coalition to protect waterways across the Middle East after an attack on Saudi oil installations. Saudi Arabia joined the coalition on Wednesday. Australia, Bahrain and the UK are also taking part. The US formed the coalition after attacks on oil tankers that American officials blame on Iran, as well as Iran’s seizure of tankers in the region.
Iran denies being behind the tanker explosions, though the attacks came after Tehran threatened to stop oil exports from the Persian Gulf. At a press conference on Wednesday, Saudi military officials displayed broken and burned drones and pieces of a cruise missile that military spokesman Colonel Turki Al-Malki identified as Iranian weapons collected after the attack. He also played surveillance video that he said showed a drone coming in from the north. Yemen is to the south of Saudi Arabia. It is alleged that eighteen drones and seven cruise missiles were launched in the assault, with three missiles failing to make their targets. He said the cruise missiles had a range of 435 miles, meaning they could not have been fired from inside Yemen.
SOURCE:METRO
