US President Donald Trump has crossed “a very dangerous red line” by killing Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, the Iranian deputy overseas minister Saeed Khatibzadeh advised NCS in an unique interview on Sunday.
Khatibzadeh stated many Shiite followers internationally will react to the killing of Khamenei.
“Of course, from a religious aspect, he was a great religious leader, so many of Shiite followers across the region and around the world are going to react to that, and this is very obvious because President Trump passed a very dangerous red line,” Khatibzadeh stated.
“We have no option but to respond,” he added.
Following the strikes Saturday, Iran responded with an unprecedented wave of strikes throughout the Middle East, focusing on a number of international locations that host US navy bases, together with Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. Strikes have continued all through the weekend, killing civilians, damaging property and bringing air and water site visitors to a standstill.
Khatibzadeh stated that Iran had communicated with Gulf Arab states to shut down US bases which Tehran considers a risk.
“We communicated with them: either to shut down those American bases that are constantly threatening Iran and are constantly using to offend on Iran, or we have no option just to push back,” he stated.
Iran “cannot reach out to American soil, so we have no option just to attack any bases which is under US jurisdiction,” he added.
Asked whether or not diplomacy remains to be an possibility, he stated the US has “disappointed” Iran a number of occasions and there was “no necessity to start this aggression.”
“If President Trump didn’t want to see Iran hitting back … President Trump should have not started this war from the beginning,” the official stated. “It was a war of choice.”