Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian threatened on Sunday that the United States will have to pay for its recent attacks on Iran’s nuclear sites, paving the way for a possible revenge. While speaking with French President Emmanuel Macron, Pezeshkian stated, “The Americans must receive a response to their aggression,” reported Iran’s state news agency IRNA.
Echoing the words, senior advisor to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Ali Akbar Velayati, said that the war is far from finished. He threatened that American military bases in the area could now be “legitimate targets” and that any nation that hosts American troops would be in the same danger. “America no longer has a place in the Middle East,” Velayati said, terming the US attack an assault on the “heart of the Islamic world.
Iran’s foreign ministry came out with a strong statement, too. Spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei wrote on social media that Iran would protect its national security and sovereignty “by all necessary means,” condemning the US airstrikes as an “unconscionable act of aggression” by a nuclear power against a non-nuclear state.
The bombing, which hit three key nuclear facilities, has escalated regional tensions. Nevertheless, the Trump administration indicated receptiveness to diplomacy. The Trump administration, through Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Vice President JD Vance, indicated that Washington does not desire war and can re-engage Tehran at the negotiating table.
“All along, this mission has not been and is not about regime change,” Hegseth underscored, while Vance indicated the attacks might squeeze Iran into going back to negotiations.
The meticulously planned US rhetoric demonstrates an attempt to manage the backlash and position for any Iranian revenge in days to come. The Middle East remains tense with diplomatic efforts ongoing.
