Iran warns new war could last longer after Trump threatens strikes

• Iran warned a new war with the US could last longer than the last one. Army spokesman Mohammad Akraminia said Trump would not control how it ends.
• Defence Minister Mehrdad Akhlaghi promised a “proportionate, decisive, and impactful response” to any attack. He said threats would not set Iran’s reply.
• IRGC spokesman Hossein Mohebbi said conflict with America has “no geographical limitations”. Trump said the US had knocked out much of Iran’s military and could hit more targets quickly.

TEHRAN – Iran warned on Nov 1 that any new war with the United States could last longer than the previous round of fighting after President Donald Trump said he still had to “take care” of more targets.

Diplomatic efforts to end the Middle East war have been punctuated by repeated threats from the US and Israel to resume bombardments as they hold crucial elections.

“A potential future war could last longer than (the) previous conflict, and the American President would not be in a position to dictate the timing or the conditions of its conclusion,” said army spokesman Mohammad Akraminia, according to Iranian state television.

He was referring to the most intense phase of the fighting in the war that began on Feb 28 with US-Israeli strikes on Iran, killing the Islamic republic’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Iran responded by launching missiles and drones across the region, while the militant groups it backs also entered the fray in Lebanon and Yemen.

Iran’s Defence Minister Mehrdad Akhlaghi on Nov 1 warned of a “proportionate, decisive, and impactful response” to any attack on the country, according to state TV.

“Those who pose threats will not dictate the scope, timing, or consequences of Iran’s defensive response,” he added.

Also on Nov 1, Hossein Mohebbi, the spokesman for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the ideological arm of Iran’s military, echoed the remarks made by the country’s new supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei in a written message the day before.

“In a conflict with America, there are no geographical limitations; a vast theatre has been defined for inflicting damage upon the enemy,” Mohebbi said, according to state TV.

Trump said on Oct 31 that the US has knocked out much of Iran’s military but still has to “take care of” one or two targets.

“We’ve knocked out their nuclear. We still have to take care of, I would say one or two sites, but we can do that in 10 minutes,” he told reporters at his Florida residence.

“You probably could look at Pickaxe Mountain, and you have to take care of that. We can do that all very quickly,” he added, referring to a suspected underground nuclear complex.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said “we hope the other side will exercise rationality and choose diplomacy”, adding that Iran “remains prepared for both defence and diplomacy”, according to the official IRNA news agency.

The warnings came as Iran’s security chief Mohsen Rezaei disclosed on Oct 31 that he had received a letter from US Vice-President J.D. Vance seeking to revive talks.

He noted what he described as a positive change in “tone” from the US side but said he had yet to respond.

He said Tehran had previously told Washington that unless its conditions were met, “neither would the Strait of Hormuz be reopened nor would there be any negotiations”.

Those conditions include unfreezing Iranian assets abroad, ending the months-long US naval blockade of Iranian ports, lifting longstanding sanctions and ending the war on all fronts.

Since the war began, Iran has claimed control over the Strait of Hormuz, a vital global energy conduit, and repeatedly targeted vessels attempting to cross without its authorisation.

The US has imposed a naval counter-blockade on Iranian ports.

‘Braced for the worst’

Anwar Gargash, diplomatic adviser to the Emirati president, said on Nov 1 that the United Arab Emirates hoped that the exchanges would yield a breakthrough but was preparing for the worst.

“We’re hoping that there is a diplomatic breakthrough,” he told a conference in Manama, Bahrain.

“It is not the interest of the region to go through another round... But I think we’re also, as we’ve shown before, braced for the worst.”

In Tehran, some residents described a sense of helplessness as threats of renewed fighting mount.

“The news coming in is truly worrying. However, no matter how much I, as an ordinary citizen, immerse myself in these reports, there is nothing I can actually do about it,” Mohadese, a 27-year-old health inspector, told AFP.

Others including 48-year-old vendor Ebrahim saw no reason to be concerned.

“We do not fear another war; we have been at war for 48 years now – we are always at war,” he said in downtown Tehran. AFP