Iran Threatens a “More Painful Response” to Further US Strikes

Iran has threatened to make any further US attack more painful, while also announcing plans for a new restricted area near the Strait of Hormuz. Mohsen Rezaei, Iran’s top security chief, said on state television that a “prohibited zone” would be announced outside the strait in the coming days.

He said the zone would begin at the US Navy’s blockade line and extend into parts of the Persian Gulf. Any vessel entering it would be placed on Iran’s sanctions list. The announcement came after Iranian and US forces exchanged fire in the contested waters.

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In the coming days, a prohibited zone will be announced outside the Strait of Hormuz.

Iranian negotiator Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said Tehran would abandon what he described as proportionate responses to attacks. “Any aggression against Iran’s interests and security will receive a faster, more intense and more painful response,” he said in a speech carried by state media.

The Revolutionary Guard said it had targeted a US naval drone, three oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, US vessels elsewhere, an aircraft carrier and a destroyer. US Central Command said its forces had disabled two Iranian oil tankers near Kharg island and completely destroyed an unladen Iranian crude tanker in the Sea of Oman. It said US warships had successfully evaded Iranian attacks.

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Any aggression against Iran’s interests and security will receive a faster, more intense and more painful response.

Iran has largely blocked passage through the strait since the war began on February 28. Washington has imposed a counter-blockade on Iranian ports and launched what it called an “economic asphyxiation” campaign. Revolutionary Guards spokesman Hossein Mohebi said Iran sought to damage the US economy, claiming that every dollar of damage inflicted on Iran would cause tens of dollars of damage to America.

In southwestern Yemen, fighting between government forces and Iran-backed Houthi rebels killed more than 140 combatants between Saturday afternoon and early Sunday, military sources told AFP. The clashes center on access to the Red Sea and followed a Houthi offensive aimed at cutting off the government-held port city of Mokha.

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If America wants to inflict one dollar of economic damage on Iran, it inflicts tens of dollars of damage on itself.