Iran’s president says his country is in a ‘full-scale war’ with the US, Israel and Europe as the hostile nation looks to rebuild its nuclear capabilities.
President Masoud Pezeshkian issued the chilling proclamation in an interview with the state-controlled media on Saturday, saying that he believes Iran is already at war with the West.
‘We are in a full-scale war with the US, Israel and Europe; they don’t want our country to remain stable,’ Pezeshkian said.
Pezeshkian referenced Iran’s devastating war with Iraq from 1980 to 1988, in which upwards of a million people were killed, as he said conflict with the West could escalate even more dramatically.
‘This war is worse than the one launched against us by Iraq. On closer inspection, it is far more complex and difficult,’ he continued.
‘During the war with Iraq, the situation was clear: they fired missiles, and we knew exactly where we were responding. But now, we are being surrounded from every angle.’
The remarks come as Trump is set to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, where Iran is expected to be a key topic in the talks.
The issue of Iran’s continued efforts to possess nuclear weapons saw the nation hit with fresh sanctions from the UN in recent weeks.
The threat of Iran’s nuclear ambitions saw Donald Trump launch historic strikes on Iranian facilities in June, which military experts said significantly set back the nation’s capabilities but did not entirely destroy its nuclear programs.
Pezeshkian brushed off the impact of Trump’s strikes in June in his latest remarks, and said Iran’s military has rebuilt to a stronger position than it was in before the conflict.
‘Our beloved military forces are doing their jobs with strength and now, in terms of equipment and manpower, despite all the problems we have, they are stronger than when they attacked,’ he said.
‘So if they want to attack, they will naturally face a more decisive response.’
Pezeshkian’s hardline remarks come as the Iranian president has faced scrutiny in his nation in recent weeks for comments he made to university students.
When asked about Iran’s struggling economy, Pezeshkian said that he was powerless to turn it around despite being president.
‘If someone can do something, by all means go for it,’ he said, according to the New York Times. ‘I can’t do anything; don’t curse me.’
He reportedly added: ‘Why should I solve (the economy)? You shouldn’t think that the president can make miracles happen.’
Pezeshkian faced criticism for his comments to the university students, and in his state media interview on Saturday, he walked back that stance, saying that ‘I have said many times that I cannot do it, but that we can.
‘The country’s problems are not something I can solve alone… but we will overcome these problems.’
It comes as Iran has also been dragged into Trump’s posturing with Venezuela, as a ‘shadow fleet’ of Iranian-linked tanker ships operating in the Caribbean sparked alarm this month amid the US military action in the region.
Despite a long history of brazenly transporting sanctioned Iranian oil, the vessels have been seen sailing just miles from the American coastline as President Trump continues his unrelenting bombardment of alleged drug boats.
A bombshell report obtained exclusively by the Daily Mail exposed a deep, clandestine network of 20 illicit tankers currently lurking in Caribbean waters, serving as a lifeline for the regimes of Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro, Iran and Russia.
Some 11 ships have been directly linked to Iran’s oil trade, including the ‘Skipper’ and ‘Star Twinkle 6’, alongside nine others tied to Russian and Venezuelan operations, according to United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), which has spent more than 12 years tracking these elusive vessels.
The stakes could not be higher. The Skipper’s revenues reportedly fund terrorist activity by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Hezbollah, prop up hostile regimes and provide cut-price oil to China.
Jemima Shelley, Senior Research Analyst at UANI, has warned that this reality could lure Trump into a dangerous provocation with Iran, pointing to the strong ideological alliance forged between Maduro and the Ayatollah.
‘Iran is the largest state sponsor of terrorism and its illicit oil sales are the main source of funding for its global terrorist activities,’ Shelley told the Daily Mail.
‘The IRGC—a designated foreign terrorist organization—is not only using this oil revenue to revamp its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile program, but also to actively plot terror on US soil, including against senior members of the US administration,’ she added.
