Senior advisor to Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Akbar Velayati, has blamed the US for the resumption of hostilities in the Gulf region, saying that President Donald Trump’s “verbal admission” of cancelling the US-Iran MoU had once again “driven the region towards fire”.
Taking to X, Velayati posted that the region is not a place for the “political gambling of small countries.”
“We had previously warned that the region is not a place for the political gambling of small countries, and we have repeatedly proven that adventures are met with an immediate response”, he wrote.
The advisor further stated that Iran had “its finger on the trigger”, and would not remain “silent against humiliation and adventurism”.
What Trump had said
Earlier, US President Donald Trump said that the interim agreement to end the war with Iran was “over” on Wednesday after Tehran carried out new attacks on US bases in the Gulf.
In a flare-up of hostilities that pushed oil prices up to a two-week high, Iran said it had targeted US military sites in Bahrain and Kuwait after US forces struck Iranian targets in response to attacks on tankers in the Strait of Hormuz.
The attacks further undermined efforts to turn the interim ceasefire agreement that was reached last month into a permanent peace deal to end the war, which began with US-Israeli airstrikes on Iran on February 28.
Asked before a NATO summit in Turkey whether the memorandum of understanding reached last month was over, Trump said: “It’s a very interesting question. To me, I think it’s over. I don’t want to deal with them.”
“They’re scum. They’re sick people. They’re led by sick people,” he told reporters in Ankara. “As far as I’m concerned, it’s just a waste of time dealing with them.”
Later, Trump threatened to strike Iran’s civilian infrastructure and to seize Kharg Island, with its oil infrastructure.
Trump said that if the US has to, it will take out Iran’s electric plants and desalination plants. He also said that Tuesday’s strikes included attacks on Kharg Island but not its oil facilities.
“Maybe we’ll take over Kharg Island. We may take over Kharg Island. There’s not a thing they could do about it,” Trump added.
He also said that the US is preparing for another night of strikes against Iran.
“We hit them very hard last night,” Trump said when asked about a possible return to hostilities. “We’ll probably hit them hard again tonight.”
Trump made the remark in Ankara on the sidelines of the NATO summit. He said the strikes are a continued retaliation for attacks on commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.
“They are behaving very badly,” he said of Iran, accusing the country of launching drones and a missile at ships.
