Iran warns of regional conflict if US attacks, designates EU armies ‘terrorists’
(refiles to correct hyperlinks in paragraphs 8, 14)
DUBAI, February 1 (Reuters) – Iran’s government on Sunday increased tensions between Washington and Tehran by warning of a regional conflict if the United States attacked and described EU armies as “terrorist groups” in retaliation.
The United States has increased its naval presence in the Middle East after President Donald Trump repeatedly threatened Iran with intervention if it did not accept the nuclear deal or stop killing protesters.
Despite the standoff between Iran’s religious rulers and the Trump administration, both sides have signaled their readiness to resume negotiations and regional allies such as Türkiye have sought to ease tensions.
An Iranian official denied an earlier report by state-run Press TV that Revolutionary Guard naval forces would conduct live-fire exercises in the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday and Monday, telling Reuters they had no such plans and that media reports were false.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was quoted in state media as saying, “The Iranian nation will not be afraid of these things, the Iranian people will not be affected by these threats,” even though Trump said he was sending ships to the region.
“We are not the initiators and do not want to attack any country, but the Iranian nation will deal a strong blow to anyone who attacks and harasses it,” he said.
The U.S. Navy currently has six destroyers, one aircraft carrier, and three littoral combat ships in the region; This raises the risk of war after Iran’s deadly crackdown on nationwide protests against Iran’s leadership in January.
According to Reuters, based on multiple sources, Trump was evaluating options against Iran, including targeted attacks on its security forces.
On Saturday, Trump told reporters that Iran was “talking seriously” to Washington, just hours after Tehran’s top security official, Ali Larijani, said on Channel X that negotiating arrangements were ongoing.
Trump also said: “I hope they negotiate something that is acceptable. You can have a negotiated agreement that will be satisfactory without nuclear weapons.”
Tehran has said it is ready for “fair” negotiations that do not restrict its defense capabilities.
The protests, which began due to economic difficulties but turned into the most violent political challenge to the Islamic Republic since its founding in 1979, have now subsided following the crackdown.
While official figures put the death toll from the unrest at 3,117, US-based rights group HRANA said on Sunday it had confirmed the deaths of 6,713 people so far. Reuters could not independently verify the figures.
In a symbolic change in response to the crackdown on protests, the European Union designated the Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) as a terrorist organization on Thursday.
In retaliation on Sunday, Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqir Qalibaf said that EU armies would also be designated in this way and that officials would negotiate the expulsion of military attachés of EU states.
“The Europeans who tried to shoot the Revolutionary Guard actually shot themselves in the foot,” the speaker told lawmakers who wore IRGC uniforms to support elite forces.
After his speech, MPs shouted “Death to America, shame on Europe”.
(Reporting by Dubai Newsroom; Editing by Alexander Smith, Jane Merriman and Hugh Lawson)
