Tehran Warns of Strong Response to Any of Attack

January 31, 2024

2 min read

The Iranian ambassador to the United Nations, Amir Saeid Iravani, said that the Islamic Republic would give a strong response to any attack on its territory, as well as its interests or Iranian nationals outside its borders

The Iranian envoy to the United Nations has said that the Islamic Republic would give a strong response to any attack on its territory, as well as its interests or Iranian nationals outside its borders, official media reported.

The IRNA news agency said Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani issued the warning late on January 30 while responding to questions by reporters.

Earlier, US President Joe Biden announced he had decided how to respond to a drone attack by Tehran-aligned Iraqi groups that killed three American service members in Jordan. Biden did not elaborate.

The White House pledged a "very consequential" response to the deadly strike on January 28.

The first American military deaths in an attack since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war on October 7 ratcheted up tensions between Washington and Tehran at the start of a US election year.

Some of Biden's Republican rivals have urged a direct attack on Iran, while the president said that "a wider war in the Middle East" was "not what I'm looking for."

Iranian officials have denied any links to the Jordan attack, reiterating that Tehran also opposes an "expansion" of the Gaza conflict.

Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said on January 30 that the solution to the crisis must be "political" and wrote on X that "diplomacy is active in this direction."

China and Russia, which have friendly ties with Tehran, urged de-escalation and restraint, with Beijing warning against a "cycle of retaliation" in the Middle East.

The United States and its ally Israel accuse Tehran-backed militant groups of fighting proxy wars in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Yemen, with the support of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

The Islamic Republic has voiced support for Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, and its allies Hezbollah in Lebanon and Yemen's Houthis, but insisted that the militant groups are acting independently.

In January 2020, then US President Donald Trump ordered the killing of IRGC commander Qassem Soleimani in a drone strike near Baghdad, sharply escalating tensions between the US and the Islamic Republic.