Don’t even think about it. That was Iran’s warning Monday that any U.S. attack on its soil would spur the Islamic republic to respond “ferociously” after President Donald Trump said he was considering limited strikes against the country.
AFP reports the United States has built up forces in the Middle East to pile pressure on Iran to make a deal at negotiations due to restart on Thursday, with Trump weighing a limited strike if no agreement is reached.
On Monday Iran’s foreign ministry reiterated that any offensive move, even limited, would be “would be regarded as an act of aggression. Period” in a continuation of previous threats against the United States.
“And any state would react to an act of aggression as part of its inherent right of self-defence ferociously so that’s what we would do,” ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said at a briefing in Tehran attended by an AFP journalist.
The U.S. has bases throughout the Middle East, including in Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey, which would all presumably be in Tehran’s sights if it chose to respond.
On the diplomatic front, the two countries concluded a second round of indirect talks in Switzerland on Tuesday under Omani mediation.
AFP notes Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is leading the negotiations for Iran, while the United States is represented by envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Anti riot police stand in front of state building that is covered with a giant anti-U.S. billboard depicting the destruction of a U.S. aircraft carrier in downtown Tehran on a main street on February 21, 2026 in Tehran, Iran. (Majid Saeedi/Getty Images)
Trump is wondering why Iran has not “capitulated” in the face of Washington’s military deployment, Witkoff said in an interview with Fox News broadcast over the weekend.
He spoke as the United States continues to assemble the largest concentration of airpower in the Middle East since the 2003 Iraq invasion.
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Baqaei responded Monday by saying Iranians had never capitulated at any point in their history.
As Breitbart News reported, the U.S. State Department has urged American citizens to leave Iran as recent unrest and repression continues to escalate, underscoring the deteriorating security environment.
AFP contributed to this report
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