Tensions with Iran escalated on Sunday after a senior US official warned that President Donald Trump's patience with diplomatic talks with Iran is wearing thin.
US Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker said the Trump administration was prepared to consider military action if Tehran failed to respond to the president's demands, stressing that Washington was not interested in destabilizing Iran or turning it into "another Libya."
In an interview with Fox News, Whitaker said that "we are not interested in undermining stability in Iran, and we do not want it to become another Libya. The action against Gaddafi lacked any plan for the day after the regime fell."
Meanwhile, Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, warned that "the Americans should know that if they ignite a war against us, this time it will be a regional war." His remarks appeared to allude to the involvement of Iran-backed terrorist organizations across the Middle East, including Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen and Shiite militias in Iraq.
"We are not the ones who start wars and we do not want to attack any country," Khamenei said. "But the Iranian people will strike forcefully anyone who attacks them. Talk of war and military mobilization against us is nothing new. Iran has faced such events before in its history."
Khamenei added that "the Americans claim that all options are on the table, including war. The American president declares that he will continue sending warships to the region." He also referred to recent unrest inside Iran, describing it as an attempted coup that was thwarted. According to him, the aim was to damage sensitive and influential centers of state administration, including attacks on the police, in what he called a plot resembling a military coup.
Meanwhile, a display of defiance toward the US and the West took place in Iran's parliament, the Majles. Several lawmakers appeared for a vote on declaring the European Union's armed forces terrorist organizations while wearing uniforms of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. After the vote, lawmakers gathered and chanted "Death to America" and "Death to Israel."
