Iran US tensions escalated Monday as Tehran warned Washington that any military strike even if limited would be treated as an act of aggression requiring a forceful response.
\nThe statements came as indirect talks between the two countries are expected to resume in Switzerland later this week amid a significant US military buildup in the region.
\nThe renewed confrontational rhetoric coincided with fresh student protests inside Iran and rising international concerns that a miscalculation could trigger a wider conflict.<\/p>\n
Foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said at a Tehran briefing attended by AFP that any US strike would be considered a direct attack on Iranian sovereignty. He said an act of aggression would be met \u201cferociously\u201d under Iran\u2019s inherent right to self-defense.
\nPresident Donald Trump had stated he was considering a limited strike if Iran did not agree to a deal within 15 days.<\/p>\n
Iran says it is preparing a draft proposal on its nuclear program for mediators and insists discussions with the United States remain limited to the nuclear issue. Washington however seeks to include Iran\u2019s missile program and its support for regional armed groups.
\nOman is mediating between the two sides and both Tehran and Muscat confirmed talks would resume Thursday though the United States has not yet publicly confirmed the schedule.<\/p>\n
Videos verified by AFP showed students at a Tehran university burning the Iranian flag adopted after the 1979 revolution while chanting slogans against the Islamic republic.
\nThe new academic semester has revived protest chants recalling the nationwide unrest that peaked in early January and was met with a violent crackdown that killed thousands.
\nThe US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reports more than 7,000 people were killed mostly protesters although rights groups say total casualties are likely higher. Iranian authorities acknowledge more than 3,000 deaths including civilians and security personnel and accuse foreign enemies particularly the United States and Israel of exploiting economic grievances.<\/p>\n
The Norway-based Iran Human Rights NGO said student gatherings occurred nationwide and involved confrontations with plainclothes Basij members affiliated with the IRGC.
\nBoth pro-government and anti-government groups held rallies in memory of those killed during the January unrest and some participants burned Israeli and US flags.<\/p>\n
India\u2019s foreign ministry advised all Indian nationals in Iran to depart \u201cby available means of transport\u201d citing the evolving security situation. India estimates around 10,000 of its citizens are typically in Iran.
\nThe warning was issued days before Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi\u2019s scheduled visit to Israel where Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the meeting would strengthen a joint effort against shared adversaries.<\/p>\n
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas warned that the region \u201cdoes not need another war\u201d and urged all sides to use the current moment to push for a diplomatic solution. The EU is not currently involved in mediation.<\/p>\n
With military threats escalating political talks approaching and internal protests continuing Iran US tensions remain high. Regional and international actors warn the situation could deteriorate quickly without substantive diplomatic progress.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Iran US tensions escalated Monday as Tehran warned Washington that any military strike even if limited would be treated as an act of aggression requiring a forceful response. The statements came as indirect talks between the two countries are expected to resume in Switzerland later this week amid a significant US military buildup in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28959,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"subtitle":"","format":"standard","override":[{"template":"7","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"left-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"topbottom","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"1","show_view_counter":"1","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"1","show_post_related":"0","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0"},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"jnews_post_split":{"post_split":[{"template":"1","tag":"h2","numbering":"asc","mode":"normal","first":"0","enable_toc":"0","toc_type":"normal"}]},"footnotes":""},"categories":[79],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-regional"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28953"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28953\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28955,"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28953\/revisions\/28955"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}