Araghchi says he is ready and “waiting” for the American invasion; Strike in Tehran causes fire at Bahrain refinery
Smoke rises over the skyline of the city of Riyadh, in the midst of the conflict between the United States and Israel with Iran. Photo: Reuters
WASHINGTON:
Iran is “standby” and prepared to counter any ground invasion by the US military, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Thursday, as the Middle East war sparked by US and Israeli attacks on Iran has spread to Cyprus, Sri Lanka, Turkey and Azerbaijan, and risks drawing more countries into the conflict.
Additionally, a spokesperson for the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters said the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln was attacked by IRGC Navy drones and, along with accompanying destroyers, fled the area at high speed. So far, the aircraft carrier has moved more than 1,000 kilometers from the region.
The foreign minister said his country had learned from previous conflicts and now had a more capable fighting force that could confront US troops, should they invade.
“When I said that we are waiting for you, it does not mean that we are waiting for a continuation of the war. No, but we have prepared ourselves to face any scenario, any eventuality, any possibility, and we know that we can handle that,” he said.
“The conflict has evolved into a high-intensity, multi-domain campaign with no immediate end in sight,” said the US-based Soufan Center.
“The conflict has expanded beyond direct military exchanges and conventional attacks and has become a regional conflict encompassing leader beheading attacks, internal destabilization efforts, pressure on maritime choke points, attacks or threats to energy infrastructure, and economic coercion.”
In a dramatic development on Wednesday, a US submarine sank an Iranian warship off the coast of Sri Lanka, killing at least 84 people on board.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi accused the United States of perpetrating “an atrocity at sea” and said Washington would “bitterly regret” setting that precedent.
Meanwhile, Iran has attacked targets throughout the Middle East, but also beyond.
An Iranian-made drone attacked a British military base in EU member Cyprus on Monday.
On Wednesday, NATO air defense systems intercepted a ballistic missile launched from Iran and heading towards Türkiye.
It is still unclear whether the missile deliberately targeted Turkey, but Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan warned his Iranian counterpart that “any measure that could lead to the spread of the conflict must be avoided.”
On Thursday, at least two drones crossing from Iran attacked the Nakhichevan enclave in Azerbaijan, and Baku, an ally of Israel, promised that the incident “will not go unanswered.”
“Iran attacks everywhere, targeting potential allies or potentially neutral countries,” a European military source told AFP.
“Perhaps the calculation is to adopt an indirect strategy to cripple the global economy and increase the cost of the war to the United States.”
He said Iran was not calling for a ceasefire and saw no reason to negotiate with the United States.
“We negotiated with them twice and each time they attacked us in the middle of the negotiations. So there is no ceasefire request on our part, and there is no request for negotiation with the United States on our part,” he said.
Araghchi insisted that the United States had “failed” to achieve rapid victory and regime change in Iran, despite a US-Israeli attack that killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei last week.
An Iranian missile attack on Thursday sparked a fire at Bahrain’s main state oil refinery as Iran stepped up its attacks across the Gulf for a sixth day.
Meanwhile, some staff at the Western embassy in Riyadh were ordered to shelter in place, diplomatic sources said, following an attack on the US embassy compound earlier this week.
War in the Middle East has engulfed the otherwise stable Gulf region as Iran retaliates against the US and Israeli strikes that killed its supreme leader, launching attacks against Israel, the broader region and beyond.
At least 13 people have been killed in the Gulf, including seven civilians, since Iran began its attacks on Saturday. Washington said six U.S. service members were killed, four of them in Kuwait.
A fire broke out at Bahrain’s Bapco Energies refinery following the Iranian attack but was later contained, the kingdom’s communications center said.
No injuries were reported from the strike at the refinery on the island of Sitra and operations continued, the government’s media arm added.
Earlier, Britain said it was temporarily withdrawing some embassy staff and dependents from Bahrain due to the security situation.
US President Donald Trump insisted Thursday that he has a say in choosing Iran’s next supreme leader, as the war sparked by the US-Israeli campaign that killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei reverberated across the Middle East and beyond.
Earlier, Israel issued an unprecedented evacuation warning for the entire southern suburbs of Beirut, a stronghold of Iran-backed Hezbollah, causing panicked residents to flee the district of hundreds of thousands of people.
That warning followed a new wave of Israeli attacks on Iran, which again lashed out at Gulf nations.
The war has drawn in global powers, paralyzing shipping and shaking energy markets. It has been felt as far away as off the coast of Sri Lanka, where a US submarine torpedoed an Iranian warship, and in Azerbaijan, which threatened retaliation after a drone hit an airport.
Trump on Thursday rejected the possibility of Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba Khamenei, replacing his slain father as supreme leader, dismissing the young man as a “lightweight.”
“I have to participate in the appointment, like with Delcy,” Trump told Axios in an interview, drawing a comparison to Venezuela, where interim president Delcy Rodríguez has cooperated with him under threat of violence after the United States ousted her boss, Nicolás Maduro.
“Khamenei’s son is unacceptable to me. We want someone who will bring harmony and peace to Iran,” Trump said, threatening more war in the future if a better alternative was not found.
The comments suggest a willingness to work with someone inside the Islamic republic rather than overthrow the government entirely, despite Trump’s repeated exhortations for Iranians to rise up and take back their country.
Lebanon was drawn into a widening conflict on Monday, when the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah attacked Israel to avenge Khamenei’s assassination.
Israel responded with airstrikes and sent ground troops to some Lebanese border villages. He told residents of a large area of southern Lebanon to leave in anticipation of military operations there.
In a message sent Thursday to residents of Beirut’s southern suburbs, known as Dahiyeh, an Israeli military spokesman said: “Save your lives and evacuate your residences immediately.”
These warnings often foreshadowed large-scale attacks, and huge traffic jams formed on the outskirts of suburbs as people fired guns into the air, urging locals to leave as soon as possible.
On a beach in Beirut, hundreds of families, many of them scared and angry, milled about after hastily fleeing with nowhere else to go.
“We fled the suburbs, we were humiliated,” a man who declined to give his name told AFP.
“Tonight we will sleep on the road and only God knows what will happen to us.”
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun asked his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, to intercede with Israel to prevent the bombing of southern Beirut.
“At this moment of great danger, I ask the Israeli Prime Minister (Benjamin Netanyahu) not to extend the war to Lebanon,” Macron said after the conversation.
Hours earlier, Israel said its forces had attacked “several command centers belonging to the terrorist organization Hezbollah” in southern Beirut.
Pakistan also expressed serious concern over the attacks on Türkiye and Azerbaijan.
“Pakistan expresses serious concern over the recent attacks on brotherly countries Turkiye and Azerbaijan. These attacks clearly violate international law and principles of interstate relations and could push the region towards further escalation,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.
While we reaffirm Pakistan’s strong solidarity with Türkiye and Azerbaijan, we call for restraint and the use of dialogue and diplomacy to maintain regional peace and stability, he added.
