REUTERS has quoted a senior Iranian official as emphatically declaring that any attack against the country will be considered an “all-out-war” and responded accordingly.
The warning comes ahead of the arrival of a US military aircraft carrier strike group and other assets in the Middle East in the coming days. The official said a country under constant military threat from the United States has no option but to ensure that everything at its disposal can be used to push back and, if possible, restore balance against anyone who dares to attack Iran.
The ground war seems unlikely due to the strategic location and advantages that Iran have but a limited war cannot be ruled out in coming days due to aggressive posture adopted by the United States under the influence of the Jewish state that wants total elimination of the Iranian nuclear programme to ward off perceived future threats to its security and existence. After issuing stern warnings to Iran, US President Donald Trump lowered his verbal rhetoric when protests subsided in Iran but the dispatch of a US aircraft carrier to the region speaks volumes about the possibility of an attack on Iran. In the given situation, Iran has threatened that any US attack would result in targeting US bases and shipping in the region, along with targeting Israel. The commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards on Thursday warned Israel and the US against “miscalculations” in the wake of mass protests, saying the force had its “finger on the trigger” while an influential Iranian cleric warned on Friday that Iran may target US-linked investments in the region in retaliation for any US attack on the Islamic Republic, adding the one trillion dollars the US has invested in the region is under the watch of Iranian missiles. All this shows President Trump might be contemplating a limited war against the country targeting its leadership, nuclear sites and important military installations but Iran will treat any type of aggression as full-scale war with serious consequences for the region and beyond. It is strange that President Trump has constituted a peace board but he himself is pursuing a jingoistic approach towards Iran and this will be a big test for members of the board.
