After Trump’s warning of strike, Iran threatens ‘harsh’ response to any attack
Pezeshkian warns against ‘any cruel aggression’ following US president’s remarks alongside Netanyahu that he’d OK new action if Tehran rebuilds nuclear or ballistic missile program
by AP and ToI Staff · The Times of IsraelTEHRAN, Iran — Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Tuesday said his country’s answer to any attack would be harsh, apparently in response to a warning by US President Donald Trump that he could okay renewed strikes against the Islamic Republic if Tehran rebuilds its nuclear or ballistic missile programs.
“Answer of Islamic Republic of Iran to any cruel aggression will be harsh and discouraging,” Pezeshkian said on the social media platform X, without elaborating.
Trump made his comment during wide-ranging talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
“Now I hear that Iran is trying to build up again,” Trump said during a news conference with Netanyahu after their meeting, “and if they are, we’re going to have to knock them down. We’ll knock them down. We’ll knock the hell out of them. But hopefully that’s not happening.”
The two leaders discussed the possibility of renewed military action against Tehran six months after a 12-day air war between Israel and Iran broke out in June following a surprise Israeli strike on strategic Iranian targets. Israel said its sweeping assault on Iran’s top military leaders, nuclear scientists, uranium enrichment sites, and ballistic missile program was necessary to prevent the Islamic Republic from moving toward imminent weaponization and realizing its avowed plan to destroy the Jewish state.
The US carried out one round of strikes on key nuclear facilities and then swiftly brokered a ceasefire between Israel and Iran.
Trump suggested Monday that he could order another US strike against Iran.
“If it’s confirmed, they know the consequences, and the consequences will be very powerful, maybe more powerful than the last time,” Trump said.
Ali Shamkhani, a top adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, responded, posting on social media platform X that “Iran’s #Missile_Capability and defense are not containable or permission-based. Any aggression will face an immediate #Harsh_Response beyond its planners’ imagination.”
He also posted the same message in Hebrew.
Pezeshkian said Saturday that tensions between the sides had already risen.
“We are in a full-scale war with the US, Israel, and Europe; they don’t want our country to remain stable,” he said.
According to Iranian reports, Pezeshkian himself was nearly killed and was injured in his leg by an Israeli strike during the war.
Iran, which vows to wipe out Israel, has insisted it is no longer enriching uranium at any site in the country, trying to signal to the West that it remains open to potential negotiations over its atomic program.
US intelligence agencies and the International Atomic Energy Agency assessed that Iran last had an organized nuclear weapons program in 2003, though before the war, Tehran had been enriching uranium up to 60 percent, which is a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%. The IAEA and Western experts say Iran has enriched uranium to levels that have no civilian purpose.