Qalibaf: Any new aggression will trigger response ‘beyond imagination’
Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said Iran is prepared to meet any violation of its territorial integrity with a response beyond its enemy’s imagination, asserting that the country will not be intimidated by threats of all-out war or assassination.
“We will not be intimidated, and we are ready to deliver a response beyond the enemy’s imagination to any violation of the territorial integrity of our great Iran,” the top legislator said on Sunday, addressing the opening of a parliamentary session.
“Threats of an all-out war or assassination will not force the Iranian nation to back down from its rights and interests,” he added.
Qalibaf argued that it was the United States that bogged itself down in a quagmire through its miscalculations and unprovoked war against Iran, and now it is the Americans who have to take the necessary steps to extricate themselves.
“Until the Americans change their behavior, abandon their bullying and rapacious ways, and make tangible, concrete, and genuine amends in practice for their violated commitments, none of their claims will carry even the slightest credibility for the Islamic Republic,” he stated. “Iran has nothing new to say.”
His remarks came as the US officials have recently escalated rhetoric against Iran, threatening to bomb Iran’s Kuh-e Kolang, which translates as Pickaxe Mountain.
Trump’s new threats
US President Donald Trump said on Friday the US may carry out another military operation against Iran just as the Iran war nears its eight-month mark and rising fuel prices weigh on the US midterm elections.
"We may do another little Epic Fury," Trump told a rally in Florida, using the US military's term for its war on Iran.
He also on Saturday said Washington could strike Iran as soon as “tomorrow,” or reach a “big, beautiful” agreement with Tehran, amid reports that he's weighing renewed attacks on the Islamic Republic.
“We’re thinking about doing it, and maybe tomorrow,” Trump told reporters when asked how far along he was in considering a possible attack.
“Do you really think I’m going to tell you if I’m going to do it?” he added.
Trump said Iran could still avoid further military action by reaching an agreement with the US, noting that “they want to make a deal, but the problem is, will they hold the deal?”
On Friday, he said this month the US would not launch an attack on Iran before the November 3 elections that will determine control of Congress, where Trump's Republican Party holds a narrow majority in both chambers.
The US and Israel launched an unprovoked war on Iran on February 28, killing thousands of Iranians.
Iran responded with a series of retaliatory operations targeting US military assets and bases across the region. The two sides later signed a memorandum of understanding in Pakistan. But Washington soon violated the agreement by failing to respect Iran’s arrangements concerning the Strait of Hormuz, which was largely closed during the war on Iran, severely disrupting regional maritime traffic and placing further pressure on energy shipments.