Iran warns of crushing response if US acts against it

TEHRAN: Any US atack on Iran would face a “crushing” response, an Iranian government spokesman said on Tuesday, following reports US President Donald Trump asked for options for a strike on Iran’s main nuclear site last week but decided against doing so.

“Any action against the Iranian nation would certainly face a crushing response,” spokesman Ali Rabiei said, in remarks streamed on an official government website.

Citing a US official, Reuters reported on Monday that Trump, with two months let in office, conferred with top advisers about the possibility of atacking the Natanz uranium enrichment plant — but was dissuaded by them from that option.

One of the advisers named in the report, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, is on Wednesday due to visit Israel, which has long hinted at possible military action against its arch-enemy Iran.

“If I were the Iranians, I would not feel at ease” ater the report, Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz said, adding that he was not aware of the Oval Office deliberations last Thursday.

“It is very important that the Iranians know that if, indeed, they suddenly dash toward high levels of enrichment, in the direction of nuclear weaponry, they are liable to encounter the military might of the United States — and also, perhaps, of other countries,” Steinitz told Israel’s Army Radio.

Iran says its nuclear programme is for peaceful needs.

“I personally don’t foresee that it’s probable that they (the United States) would want to cause insecurity in the world and the region,” Rabiei said.

Trump has spent all four years of his presidency engaging in an aggressive policy against Iran, withdrawing in 2018 from the Iran nuclear deal negotiated by his Democratic predecessor, Barack Obama, and imposing economic sanctions against a wide variety of Iranian targets.

Trump’s request for options came a day ater a UN watchdog report showed Iran had finished moving a first cascade of advanced centrifuges from an above-ground plant at its main uranium enrichment site to an underground one, in a fresh breach of its 2015 nuclear deal with major powers.