Iran Threatens Stronger Response if US Launches More Attacks

Iran has warned that the next US attack will meet a response that is faster, more intense, and more painful. The threat came after Tehran targeted American warships in the latest exchange between the two countries, whose six-month war remains deadlocked.

Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who has acted as Tehran’s chief negotiator in talks to end the war, said in a speech carried by state media that “the era of proportionate responses has come to an end”. He added, “Any aggression against Iran’s interests and security will receive a faster, more intense and more painful response.”

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The era of proportionate responses has come to an end.

Iran’s top security chief, Mohsen Rezaei, meanwhile said Tehran would create a “prohibited zone” near the Strait of Hormuz 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 ship entering it, he told state television, would be placed on Iran’s sanctions list.

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

The latest confrontation followed Iranian fire directed at two US warships, an aircraft carrier and a destroyer, according to US Central Command. The United States then struck three oil tankers it said were linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards. CENTCOM said the vessels belonged to a multibillion-dollar shadow network funding the Guards and their regional proxies, while military video showed fireballs and flames after the strikes.

Iran’s Guards said their naval forces had targeted three oil tankers using an unauthorized route through the Strait of Hormuz, as well as three vessels affiliated with the United States elsewhere. They warned ships not to use routes through the strategic waterway that Tehran had not approved. The Guards also said they attacked a US naval drone attempting to enter the strait, but CENTCOM spokesman Captain Tim Hawkins called that claim “a complete lie”.

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A complete lie.

CENTCOM commander Admiral Brad Cooper said the US response would impose a higher economic cost after Iran fired at two American ships. Iran’s foreign ministry condemned the attacks on its tankers as illegal and aggressive. Washington has continued a counter-blockade of Iranian ports and imposed sanctions on entities with financial links to Iran in an effort to pressure Tehran.

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If you shoot at two of our ships, we will impose an even higher economic cost, taking out three of yours.