IRAN WARNING: 'US will regret attack'

International

IRAN vowed that the United States would regret attacking the Islamic republic, warning that it would continue tightening control over the Strait of Hormuz, a vital global oil route that has already sent oil prices sharply higher.

According to a report by Agence France-Presse, the International Energy Agency warned the escalating Middle East conflict could lead to “the largest supply disruption” in the history of the oil industry.

However, U.S. President Donald Trump said defeating Iran’s “evil empire” was more important than the rising cost of crude.

Trump has faced increasing political pressure as the crisis continues to affect the global economy, while also giving mixed signals about how long the U.S. military campaign might continue.

Iranian security chief Ali Larijani warned Washington that Iran would not back down, saying that while starting a war may be easy, it cannot be won through social media posts. His remarks followed a defiant message from Iran’s new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who was appointed after the death of his father and predecessor Ali Khamenei in a strike.

Mojtaba Khamenei, who was reportedly wounded, has not appeared publicly since his appointment, and his message calling for revenge was read on state television. In the statement, he said blocking the Strait of Hormuz should be used as leverage. The narrow waterway, located off Iran and only about 54 kilometers wide at its narrowest point, normally carries about a quarter of the world’s seaborne oil and a significant share of global liquefied natural gas shipments.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the joint U.S.-Israeli campaign was “crushing” Iran and the Tehran-backed militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Netanyahu said the war aims to weaken Iran’s nuclear and missile programs and create conditions that could allow the Iranian people to bring down their government. Meanwhile, Iran’s deputy foreign minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi said Tehran was acting in self-defense and confirmed that several “friendly countries” had approached Iran about ending the conflict. He added that Iran wants any ceasefire to be part of a broader agreement that would bring the war to a complete end.

Countries across the Gulf have been heavily affected by retaliatory attacks. Iran warned it could “set the region’s oil and gas on fire” if its own energy facilities are targeted.

The war has also disrupted daily life inside Iran.

A 30-year-old resident of Kermanshah said most shops in the city have closed as people rush to withdraw their savings from banks. She said bread is now rationed, and the population is increasingly tense and outraged.

The conflict has also spread to Lebanon, where authorities reported 687 people killed in Israeli attacks, including at least 12 who died in a strike on Beirut’s seafront where displaced families were sheltering in tents.(Jeff Marco Zamora, BiPSU Comm Intern)