IRAN’S supreme leader warned on Sunday that any attack by the United States would spark a “regional war” in the Mid-East, further escalating tensions as President Donald Trump has threatened to militarily strike the Islamic Republic. The comments from the 86-year-old Ayatollah Ali Khamenei are the most-direct threat he’s made so far as the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and associated American warships are in the Arabian Sea, sent by Trump there after Tehran’s bloody crackdown on nationwide protests. It remains unclear whether Trump will use force. He’s repeatedly said Iran wants to negotiate and has brought up Tehran’s nuclear programme as another issue he wants to see resolved. But Khamenei also referred to the nationwide protests as “a coup”, hardening the Government’s position as tens of thousands of people reportedly have been detained since the start of the demonstrations. Seditious charges in Iran can carry the death penalty, which again renews concerns about Tehran carrying out mass executions for those arrested - a red line for Trump. Iran had also planned a live-fire military drill for Sunday and Monday in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all oil traded passes.

 

The US military’s Central Command had warned against threatening American warships or aircraft during the drill or disrupting commercial traffic. Iranian state television reported Khamenei’s comments online before airing any footage of his remarks. “The Americans should know that if they start a war, this time it will be a regional war,” Khamenei was quoted as saying. It added that Khamenei said: “We are not the instigators and we do not seek to attack any country. But the Iranian nation will deliver a firm blow to anyone who attacks or harasses it.” Khamenei also hardened his position on the demonstrations after earlier acknowledging some people had legitimate economic grievances that sparked their protests.

 

The demonstrations began Dec 28, initially over the collapse of Iran’s rial currency. It soon grew into a direct challenge to Khamenei’s rule. “The recent sedition was similar to a coup. Of course, the coup was suppressed,” he said. “Their goal was to destroy sensitive and effective centres involved in running the country, and for this reason they attacked the police, government centres, (Revolutionary Guard) facilities, banks and mosques - and burned copies of the Quran. They targeted centres that run the country.”

 

The Speaker of Iran’s Parliament, meanwhile, said that the Islamic Republic now considers all European Union militaries to be terrorist groups, lashing out after the bloc declared the country’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard a terror group over its bloody crackdown on nationwide protests. Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, a former Guard commander, announced the terror designation, which will likely be mostly symbolic. Iran has used a 2019 law to reciprocally declare other nations’ militaries terror groups following the United States declaration of the Guard a terror group that year. Qalibaf made the announcement as he and others in parliament wore Guard uniforms in support of the force.