Skip next section What you need to know
What you need to know
Skip next section Iran's supreme leader Khamenei warns US attack would trigger 'regional war'
Iran's supreme leader Khamenei warns US attack would trigger 'regional war'
Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, warned on Sunday that a "regional war" in the Middle East would break out if Iran were attacked by the US.
"The Americans should know that if they start a war, this time it will be a regional war," the 86-year-old Khamenei was quoted as saying by the Tasnim news agency.
"We are not the instigators and we do not seek to attack any country. But the Iranian nation will deliver a firm blow to anyone who attacks or harasses it," he added.
His remarks come as Washington has sent the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and other warships to the Arabian Sea in a move ostensibly prompted by Tehran's bloody crackdown on nationwide protests.
Khamenei also compared recent protests to an attempted "coup" in his reported remarks.
"They (rioters) attacked the police, government centres, IRGC centres, banks, and mosques, and burned the Quran ... It was like a coup," Khamenei said, adding that "the coup was suppressed."
Iran military analyst: Strike must target security apparatus
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Skip next section READ: Blast hits Iranian port city a day before naval drills
An explosion that hit an apartment building in Iran's port city of Bandar Abbas has reportedly killed a 4-year-old girl and wounded several other people.
The blast, which, media say, officials have blamed on a gas leak came a day before a planned naval drill by Iran in the Strait of Hormuz, the waterway on which Bandar Abbas sits.
Skip next section Iran's Pezeshkian urges peaceful resolution of tensions with US
Iran's Pezeshkian urges peaceful resolution of tensions with US
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has stressed the "necessity of establishing diplomatic processes" following renewed military threats from US President Donald Trump.
State news agency IRNA cited Pezeshkian as telling Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi in a phone call that Iran had never sought war and was not seeking one now.
According to the report, Iran "deeply believes that war will not benefit Iran, the United States, or the region."
Ali Larijani, secretary general of Iran's National Security Council, wrote on X that "contrary to the artificially manufactured media war narrative, the formation of a framework for negotiations is progressing."
Trump on Saturday seemed to suggest that military action by the US was still on the cards as several US warships, including a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, are reportedly deploying near Iran.
"[Iran is] talking to us, and we'll see if we can do something, otherwise we'll see what happens ... We have a big fleet heading out there," Trump told conservative US broadcaster Fox News.
Does Donald Trump have a coherent Iran strategy?
Skip next section Iran says it now considers all EU militaries terrorist groups
Iran says it now considers all EU militaries terrorist groups
The speaker of Iran's parliament said on Sunday that Tehran now sees all European Union militaries as terrorist groups.
"By seeking to strike at the (Guard), which itself has been the greatest barrier to the spread of terrorism to Europe, Europeans have in fact shot themselves in the foot and, once again through blind obedience to the Americans, decided against the interests of their own people," Qalibaf said.
"According to Article 7 of the law on countermeasures against the designation of the Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organization, the armies of European countries are considered terrorist groups," he said.
He added that the parliamentary commission on national security would debate expelling EU countries' military attaches.
As he made the announcement, he and all others in the Iranian parliament were wearing Guard uniforms in symbolic support of the force.
Who are Iran's Revolutionary Guards?
Skip next section Welcome to our coverage
Welcome to our coverage
DW continues its coverage on events connected with the growing tensions between Iran and the United States and other Western countries, as Iran itself contends with fallout from recent, brutally suppressed anti-government protests.
A buildup of US military vessels near Iran has fueled fears that US military action might be imminent.
However, negotiations between the two sides are reportedly taking place or in preparation, with both Washington and Tehran saying they are willing to talk.
US and Western demands that Iran curb its nuclear program are likely, however, to be a stumbling block on the way to any resolution of the current strains.
DW invites you to read on here for more information about the situation in and related to Iran.
