Iran threatens to ‘decisively reply’ to any US assault as Biden weighs response to Jordan assault | EUROtoday

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Iran threatened Wednesday to “decisively respond” to any U.S. assault on the Islamic Republic following President Joe Biden’s linking of Tehran to the killing of three U.S. troopers at a navy base in Jordan.

The U.S. has signaled it’s making ready for retaliatory strikes within the Mideast within the wake of the Sunday drone assault that additionally injured at the very least 40 troops at Tower 22, a secretive base in northeastern Jordan that is been essential to the American presence in neighboring Syria.

However, issues stay that any further American strikes might additional inflame a area already roiled by Israel’s ongoing conflict on Hamas within the Gaza Strip and the continuing assaults by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on delivery within the Red Sea.

A U.S. Navy destroyer within the waterway shot down an anti-ship cruise missile launched by the Houthis late Tuesday, the newest assault concentrating on American forces patrolling the important thing maritime commerce route, officers mentioned.

The Iranian warnings first got here from Amir Saeid Iravani, Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations in New York. He gave a briefing to Iranian journalists late Tuesday, in line with the state-run IRNA information company.

“The Islamic Republic would decisively respond to any attack on the county, its interests and nationals under any pretexts,” IRNA quoted Iravani as saying. He described any doable Iranian retaliation as a “strong response,” with out elaborating.

The Iranian mission to the U.N. didn’t reply to requests for remark or elaboration Wednesday on Iravani’s remarks.

Iravani additionally denied that Iran and the U.S. had exchanged any messages over the previous couple of days, both by intermediaries or instantly. The pan-Arab satellite tv for pc channel Al Jazeera, which relies in and funded by Qatar, reported earlier that messages had been exchanged between the nations. Qatar typically serves as an middleman between Washington and Tehran.

“Such messages have not been exchanged,” Iravani said.

But Iran’s government has taken note of the U.S. threats of retaliation for the attack on the base in Jordan.

“Sometime, our enemies raise the threat and nowadays we hear some threats in between words by American officials,” Revolutionary Guard commander Gen. Hossein Salami, who answers only to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said at an event Wednesday. “We tell them that you have experienced us and we know each other. We do not leave any threat without an answer.”

“We are not after war, but we have no fear of war,” he added, in line with IRNA.

On Saturday, a common in control of Iran’s air defenses described them as being at their “highest defensive readiness.” That raises issues for business aviation touring by and over Iran as nicely. After a U.S. drone strike killed a prime common in 2020, Iranian air defenses mistakenly shot down a Ukrainian passenger aircraft, killing all 176 individuals on board.

Meanwhile, assaults by the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels proceed within the Red Sea, most not too long ago concentrating on a U.S. warship. The missile launched Tuesday night time focused the USS Gravely, an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer, the U.S. navy’s Central Command mentioned in a press release.

“There were no injuries or damage reported,” the assertion mentioned.

A Houthi navy spokesman, Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, claimed the assault in a press release Wednesday morning, calling it “a victory for the oppression of the Palestinian people and a response to the American-British aggression against our country.”

Saree claimed the Houthis fired “several” missiles. one thing not acknowledged by the U.S. Navy. Houthi claims have been exaggerated up to now, and their missiles generally crash on land and fail to achieve their targets.

The Houthis claimed with out proof on Monday to have focused the USS Lewis B. Puller, a floating touchdown base utilized by the Navy SEALs and others. The U.S. mentioned there had been no assault.

Since November, the rebels have repeatedly focused ships within the Red Sea over Israel’s offensive towards Hamas in Gaza. But they’ve often focused vessels with tenuous or no clear hyperlinks to Israel, imperiling delivery in a key route for world commerce between Asia, the Mideast and Europe.

The Houthis hit a business vessel with a missile on Friday, sparking a fireplace that burned for hours.

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Associated Press author Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.