Iran threatens Middle East with ‘fire of war’ as US ‘planning new attack’ | World | News
Iran has threatened neighbours in the Middle East with further attacks, as the regime appears to be gearing up for new strikes being reportedly planned by the US and Israel. Major General Ali Abdollahi, head of Iran’s wartime military command, said in a statement on Saturday: “The United States is moving at an accelerating pace to fan the flames of a full-scale regional war.”
Addressing other nations in the Middle East, which since February have been hit by Iranian drones and missiles targeting sensitive US outposts, he said: “It is hereby stated explicitly: Muslim countries must, with foresight, monitor America’s crimes and reconsider their cooperation and alignment with the US. Otherwise, any country that makes itself a defensive shield for criminal, aggressor America will burn in the fire of war.”
The development comes as the US President recently signaled that he expected US military action to continue for some time. Speaking to reporters Friday during a meeting with members of his Cabinet at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland, Trump said “we just want to win” in Iran.
He said the US will hit Iran “very hard” until they can’t take it anymore.
Later that day, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt expressed the US administration’s frustration anew, charging that Tehran last month signed a memorandum of understanding with the US on a truce but then quickly “broke it, shot at commercial ships, and killed American soldiers.”
Ms Leavitt said in a statement on Friday evening: “President Trump is not going to stand by and allow this terrorist behavior to occur. Iran will continue to pay until they come to the table in, what President Trump deems, a meaningful way.”
Kuwait’s military said on Saturday that its forces were responding to a series of drone attacks, which it described as part of Iran’s broader assault on the country.
In a statement, Maj Gen. Saud Abdulaziz Al-Otaibi, spokesman for Kuwait’s Defense Ministry, said the drones hit “a number of vital facilities,” including a government structure in the country’s north. However, he said there were no casualties.
Since the outbreak of war in late February, the Gulf state has repeatedly been targeted by Iranian retaliatory actions in response to US military operations in the region.
Tehran has previously struck sites associated with the United States within the country, presenting the attacks as a response to American strikes.
On Friday, Iran claimed responsibility for an attack on a US military base there, underscoring its readiness to directly target American interests and raising concerns that the conflict could escalate further and draw more countries in the region into the confrontation.
