Iran will respond promptly to any threat against its security, a foreign ministry spokesman said on Monday, as the United States, Israel and Britain blamed Tehran for an attack on an Israeli-managed tanker off the coast of Oman.
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"The Islamic Republic of Iran has no hesitation in protecting its security and national interests and will respond promptly and strongly to any possible adventure," state television quoted Saeed Khatibzadeh as saying.
It said Khatibzadeh "strongly regretted the baseless accusations made by the British Foreign Secretary against the Islamic Republic of Iran, which were repeated by the US Secretary of State in the same context and contained contradictory, false and provocative accusations."
"Although Iran considers the threats of Western officials and the Zionist regime [Israel] to be more of a propaganda gesture, any action against Iran's national interests and security will be met with a strong and decisive response," an unnamed official told Nournews news agency on Monday.
"And Washington and London will be directly responsible for the consequences," the official told Nournews, which is close to Iran's Supreme National Security Council.
Also Monday, UK Minister for the MIddle East James Cleverly summoned Iran's ambassador to the Foreign Office on Monday in response to the attack on the Mercer Street, which killed a British national and Romanian.
"Minister Cleverly reiterated that Iran must immediately cease actions that risk international peace and security, and reinforced that vessels must be allowed to navigate freely in accordance with international law,'' the Foreign Commonwealth & Development Office said in a statement.
On Sunday, the US, the UK, and Russia gave Israel the "green light" to attack Iranian targets following a deadly drone strike last Friday on an Israeli-owned cargo ship in the Gulf of Oman, the Kuwait-based newspaper Al-Jarida reported, quoting American officials.
Both the US and UK joined Israel in alleging that Iran carried out the fatal drone strike on the oil tanker Mercer Street, putting further pressure on Tehran as it denied being involved in the assault.
Calling it an "unlawful and callous attack," British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said his country and its allies planned a coordinated response over the strike Thursday night on the oil tanker Mercer Street.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken soon followed, saying there was "no justification for this attack, which follows a pattern of attacks and other belligerent behavior."
The strike on the Mercer Street marked the first-known fatal attack after years of assaults on commercial shipping in the region linked to tensions with Iran over its tattered nuclear deal.
While no one has claimed responsibility for the attack, Iran and its militia allies have used so-called "suicide" drones in attacks previously, which crash into targets and detonate their explosive payloads.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett went further than Blinken and Raab in his remarks Sunday at a cabinet meeting, saying: "I declare unequivocally: Iran is the one that carried out the attack on the ship." He then accused Tehran of "trying to shirk responsibility" for the attack and called its denial "cowardly."
He then made a point to stare directly into the camera and slowly warn: "We know, at any rate, know how to convey the message to Iran in our own way."
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