London/Occupied Jerusalem: Iran warned on Wednesday that it would hit US and Israeli targets if it were attacked by the US after President Donald Trump’s security adviser John Bolton said Washington would exert maximum pressure on Tehran going beyond economic sanctions.
A US-Iranian war of words has escalated since Trump withdrew Washington from the world powers’ nuclear deal with Iran in May, blasting it as flawed and reimposing sanctions to choke Iran’s economy and force it to renegotiate or change direction.
A senior Iranian cleric seen as close to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told worshippers at Eid holiday prayers in Tehran: “The price of a war with Iran is very high for America. They know if they harm this country and this state in the slightest way the United States and its main ally in the region, the Zionist regime [the Israeli regime], would be targeted,” Ahmad Khatami said.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have said it could strike Israeli cities with missiles if it were threatened. Iran also has proxies in the region including Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
The Revolutionary Guards said on Wednesday they would continue increasing Iran’s defensive capabilities not surrender to US pressure to scrap its ballistic missile programme.
