Iran Officials Warn Against US Military Attack

FM says a US strike would lead to an 'all-out war'

With the US poring over a series of military options, the Iranian government is issuing a series of statements warning against any military strikes on them, and cautioning that Iran would respond immediately to any US or Saudi attack.

Iranian FM Javad Zarif cautioned that any serious military strike against Iran would lead to “an all-out war,” while accusing Saudi Arabia’s crown prince of deceiving Trump into a possible war.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was also urging US officials to come to their senses before they started a war over allegations of an attack. Iran denied having anything to do with the drone attacks on Saudi Arabia.

The US, however, has already insisted that they are definitely blaming Iran, and since they informed the Saudis of that fact, they too have been playing along. This is being used by hawks as a push to respond to what Secretary of State Mike Pompeo deemed “an act of war.”

A putative act of war or not, the US has offered no public evidence Iran actually did the drone strike, and it is very clear that attacking Iran in any major way is going to lead to a very real war, something Trump has said he very much wants to avoid.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.