TEHRAN – In a stark escalation of rhetoric, a senior Iranian official declared on Friday that Iran would interpret any military strike by the United States as a declaration of “all-out war,” promising a devastating response as a U.S. naval strike group advances toward the region.
The anonymous official issued the warning ahead of the anticipated arrival of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group and accompanying U.S. military assets in the Middle East, framing the deployment as a potentially existential threat.
“This military buildup—we hope it is not intended for real confrontation—but our military is ready for the worst-case scenario. This is why everything is on high alert in Iran,” the official stated.
The threat marks a significant hardening of Iran’s position. “This time we will treat any attack—limited, unlimited, surgical, kinetic, whatever they call it—as an all-out war against us, and we will respond in the hardest way possible to settle this,” the official emphasized, leaving no ambiguity about Iran’s intended escalation.
The warning comes directly after U.S. President Donald Trump’s comments on Thursday, in which he referenced an American “armada” steaming toward Iran. While expressing hope he would not need to use it, Trump reiterated warnings for Tehran to refrain from killing anti-government protesters or restarting its nuclear weapons program.
The Iranian official directly linked any potential retaliation to the principle of sovereignty. “If the Americans violate Iran’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, we will respond,” he said, though he declined to specify the nature of such a response, stating only that Iran would employ “everything at its disposal” to restore deterrence.
Analysts note that the U.S. has periodically reinforced its military posture in the Middle East during spikes in tension, often for defensive purposes. However, the current exchange echoes the major U.S. military buildup in mid-2023, which preceded precision strikes on Iran’s nuclear infrastructure in June of that year.
The latest threat underscores the perilously fragile state of U.S.-Iran relations, which have deteriorated further amid Iran’s crackdown on domestic unrest and its rapid advances in uranium enrichment. The Iranian statement suggests a calculated shift in doctrine: by promising to treat any strike, however limited, as a casus belli for total war, Tehran aims to dramatically raise the perceived cost of U.S. military action for the Biden administration and its regional allies.
The international community watches with acute concern, fearing that a single miscalculation or targeted strike could trigger a broader regional conflict, drawing in U.S. forces, Iranian proxy networks across the Middle East, and potentially destabilizing critical global oil shipping lanes.
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