TEHRAN – Any country that attacks Iran will become the “main battlefield”,the Revolutionary Guards warned Saturday after Washington orderedreinforcements to the Gulf following attacks on Saudi oil installations itblames on Tehran.
Tensions escalated between arch-foes Iran and the United States after lastweekend’s attacks on Saudi energy giant Aramco’s Abqaiq processing plantand Khurais oilfield halved the kingdom’s oil output.
Yemen’s Huthi rebels have claimed responsibility for the strikes but the USsays it has concluded the attacks involved cruise missiles from Iran andamounted to “an act of war”.
Washington approved the deployment of troops to Saudi Arabia at “thekingdom’s request,” Defence Secretary Mark Esper said, noting the forceswould be “defensive in nature” and focused on air and missile defence.
But Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Major General HosseinSalami said Iran was “ready for any type of scenario”.
“Whoever wants their land to become the main battlefield, go ahead,” hetold a news conference in Tehran.
“We will never allow any war to encroach upon Iran’s territory.
“We hope that they don’t make a strategic mistake”, he said, listing pastUS military “adventures” against Iran.
Salami was speaking at Tehran’s Islamic Revolution and Holy Defence museumduring the unveiling of an exhibition of what Iran says are US and otherdrones captured in its territory.
It featured a badly damaged drone with US military markings said to be anRQ-4 Global Hawk that Iran downed in June, as well as an RQ-170 Sentinelcaptured in 2011 and still intact.
– ‘Act of war’ –
The Guards also displayed the domestically manufactured Khordad 3 airdefence battery they say was used to shoot down the Global Hawk.
“What are your drones doing in our airspace? We will shoot them down, shootanything that encroaches on our airspace,” said Salami, noting Iran haddefeated “America’s technological dominance” in air defence and dronemanufacture.
His remarks came only days after strikes on Saudi oil facilities claimed byYemen’s Huthis, but the US says it has concluded the attack involved cruisemissiles from Iran and amounted to “an act of war”.
Saudi Arabia, which has been bogged down in a five-year war across itssouthern border in Yemen, has said Iran “unquestionably sponsored” theattacks.
Read Top Stories
The kingdom says the weapons used in the attacks were Iranian-made, but itstopped short of directly blaming its regional rival.
“Sometimes they talk of military options,” Salami said, apparentlyreferring to the Americans.
Yet he warned that “a limited aggression will not remain limited” as Iranwas determined to respond and would “not rest until the aggressor’scollapse.”
– ‘Crushing response’ –
The Guards’ aerospace commander said the US ought to learn from its pastfailures and abandon its hostile rhetoric.
“We’ve stood tall for the past 40 years and if the enemy makes a mistake,it will certainly receive a crushing response,” Brigadier General AmiraliHajizadeh said.
The United States upped the ante on Friday by announcing new sanctionsagainst Iran’s central bank, with President Donald Trump calling themeasures the toughest America has ever imposed on another country.
Washington has imposed a series of sanctions against Tehran sinceunilaterally pulling out of a landmark 2015 nuclear deal in May last year.
It already maintains sweeping sanctions on Iran’s central bank, but the USTreasury said Friday’s designation was over the regulator’s work in funding”terrorism”.
The “action targets a crucial funding mechanism that the Iranian regimeuses to support its terrorist network, including the Qods Force, Hezbollahand other militants that spread terror and destabilise the region,” said USTreasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
The Qods Force is the Guards’ foreign operations arm, while Hezbollah is aLebanese Shiite militant group closely allied with Iran.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the new sanctions meantthe United States was “trying to block the Iranian people’s access to foodand medicine”.
It showed the US was in “despair” and that “the maximum pressure policy hasreached its end,” semi-official news agency ISNA quoted him as saying fromNew York. -APP/AFP
