ADاشتہار / AdvertisementGoogle Ad
Iran warns new US strikes would widen Middle East warWorld
Supreme Leader Khamenei warned fresh US attacks would widen the war, as Washington hit Qeshm Island and Tehran said it shot down an American drone.
Share:
Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has warned that if the United States resumes attacks on Iran, the scope of the Middle East war would widen, according to a written statement reported by The News.
Khamenei dismissed hopes that the results of the US midterm elections would change Washington’s policy towards Iran. The Democrats won the 3 November midterms, stripping President Donald Trump’s Republicans of control of Congress, and Trump acknowledged that the Iran conflict may have played a part in the defeat.
ADاشتہار / AdvertisementGoogle Ad
On Tuesday, the United States launched strikes on Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian state media reported five explosions in rapid succession. Trump described the operation as a minor attack and said the United States had hit a newly built anti-aircraft facility.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said a US MQ-1 drone was intercepted and destroyed over Qeshm Island. There was no confirmation of that claim from the United States side.
Trump said he still had to take care of one or two targets, including Pickaxe Mountain in central Iran, a site the United States suspects of being linked to Iran’s nuclear programme. Tehran denies that the site is a nuclear facility. Trump also told the Financial Times that a full-scale resumption of war may not be necessary.
President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Tuesday that his government was still trying to resolve the crisis through dialogue. Qatar, which has acted as a mediator, said it remained hopeful of an interim deal, while China said avoiding a return to hostilities was a top priority.
The war was triggered in February 2026, when the United States and Israel struck Iran. Since then, the conflict has gone through rounds of fighting and fragile pauses, with regional states and outside powers pressing for a settlement.
Khamenei’s warning is the latest sign that Tehran sees the confrontation as far from over. His statement made clear that Iran would treat any new American attack as an escalation that could draw in a wider war across the region.
The strike on Qeshm Island, at the mouth of the Strait of Hormuz, is particularly sensitive because the strait carries a large share of the world’s seaborne oil. Any sustained fighting there would threaten shipping and push up energy prices worldwide.
The exchange of claims over the drone also underlines how hard it is to verify what is happening in the conflict zone. Iran says it destroyed an American drone, while Washington has not confirmed the loss, leaving the episode unresolved.
Diplomats in the region say the coming days will show whether the latest strikes were a limited action or the start of a new round of fighting. Qatar’s mediation effort continues, but both sides have so far shown little sign of stepping back from their positions.
For now, the situation remains tense. Iran has warned of a wider war, the United States has signalled that more targets remain, and the countries caught between them are urging restraint before the conflict spreads further.
Related Coverage
