TEHRAN: Iran mentioned on Monday (Feb 5) it “is not going to hesitate” to reply within the occasion of US assaults on its territory after the White Home declined to say whether or not strikes on Iran had been dominated out.
White Home Nationwide Safety Advisor Jake Sullivan mentioned on Sunday the US will press on with its retaliation in opposition to Iran-backed teams in Iraq and Syria.
Requested whether or not the US would rule out the opportunity of putting Iran immediately, Sullivan advised NBC, “it could not be sensible for me to speak about what we’re ruling in and ruling out”.
“If (Iran) selected to reply on to the US, they’d be met with a swift and forceful response from us,” he mentioned.
Iran’s overseas ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani hit again on Monday, saying: “The Islamic Republic has proven that it has all the time reacted decisively to any menace to its safety, territorial integrity and sovereignty.”
Iran “is not going to hesitate to make use of its capabilities” to answer any assaults on its soil, mentioned Kanani throughout his weekly press briefing.
He nonetheless reiterated that Iran “doesn’t search to worsen tensions and crises within the area”.
Regional tensions have soared because the Oct 7 outbreak of the Israel-Hamas conflict, drawing in Iran-backed teams in Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Lebanon.
The US navy mentioned it carried out airstrikes in opposition to 5 missiles in Yemen on Sunday.
The strikes got here a day after US and UK forces launched a wave of air raids against Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis – their third spherical of joint navy motion in response to the rebels’ persistent assaults on delivery.
The Houthis say their assaults within the Pink Sea are in solidarity with Palestinians in war-battered Gaza.
The US military struck targets in Syria and Iraq overnight on Friday to Saturday, in retaliation for a Jan 28 drone attack on a base in Jordan that killed three US troopers.
The Islamic republic condemned the strikes in Yemen, Syria and Iraq.
President Joe Biden has blamed “radical Iran-backed militant teams” for the assault in Jordan, however mentioned the US doesn’t search a wider battle within the Center East.