An Iranian diplomatic spokesman assured this Monday that Tehran would respond to any US attack on the country after the White House acknowledged the possibility of a direct attack on Iran.
On Friday, the United States launched a series of strikes against elite Iranian forces and pro-Iranian armed groups in Syria and Iraq in response to the deaths of three American soldiers in Jordan on January 28.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Saturday that the US would continue to retaliate and did not rule out the possibility of a direct strike on targets in Iran.
“The Islamic Republic will not hesitate to use its capabilities to give a response that will make the aggressors regret it,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said at a press conference.
“Others have already seen this ability and this power and will count a hundred times before doing something wrong,” he added.
The United States and Britain announced Saturday that they had bombed dozens of targets in Yemen in response to repeated attacks by Iran-backed Houthi rebels on ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
Kanani criticized the attacks in Iraq, Yemen and Syria as “adventurous actions” and illegal, saying they were carried out as part of a “policy of full support” for Israel.
The Houthis say they act in solidarity with the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
On Sunday, US forces announced they had carried out air strikes on five missiles in Yemen that were being prepared to be launched at ships in the Red Sea.
Tehran “does not seek to aggravate tensions and crises in the region and has never supported tensions and crises,” the Iranian spokesman added.