Iran sends chilling threat to US as Trump sends ‘very big, powerful ships’

“This time it will be a regional war”

The supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has said that “the Americans should know that if they start a war, this time it will be a regional war”, as quoted by the semi-official Tasnim news agency.

“Trump regularly says that he brought ships… The Iranian nation shall not be scared by these things”, Khamenei said.

The US has sent its aircraft carrier the USS Abraham Lincoln to the region as part of its build up of forces.

While last week, US Central Command said it was operating in the Arabian Sea.

Trump has warned that the US might intervene in Iran over its nuclear ambitions, and following its crackdown on anti-government protests, where thousands are reported to have been killed.

At least 6,373 people have been killed so far in the demonstrations, according to activists, while the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency said that is investigating another 17,000 reported deaths.

Trump on Thursday said that he told Iran that it had to do two things to avoid US military action: “Number one, no nuclear. And number two, stop killing protesters.”

On the other hand, Khamenei on Sunday accused protesters of attacking police, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and other facilities including banks and mosques.

Last week, Iran's Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, warned that Tehran’s armed forces were ready “with their fingers on the trigger” to “immediately and powerfully respond” to any aggression, following Trump's comments that a “massive armada” was heading to Iran.

Trump said his next attack will make last June’s bombing raid on Iranian nuclear sites “look like peanuts”, as he spoke aboard Air Force One.

The US president last month was threatened on Iranian state TV, with a direct warning that “this time, [the bullet] won’t miss”, referring to Trump’s 2024 assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.

Since the US drone strike of January 2020 that killed General Qassem Soleimani on Trump’s orders, Iranian officials and state media have repeatedly issued threats toward the American president.