Iran warns of regional war as Trump threatens military action

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 86, warned on Sunday that any attack by the US would spark a “regional war” in the Middle East and further escalate tensions, as President Donald Trump threatened militarily strikes against the Islamic Republic.

Khamenei’s comments are the most-direct threat he’s made so far as aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln along with associated American warships arrived in the Arabian Sea after Tehran’s bloody crackdown on nationwide protests. While it remains unclear if Trump would use force, the US President has repeatedly said that Iran wants to negotiate and has brought up Tehran’s nuclear program as another issue he wants to see resolved.

Khamenei also referred to the nationwide protests as “a coup”, hardening the government’s position after thousands of people were reportedly detained since the start of demonstrations. Seditious charges in Iran can carry the death penalty, which again renews concerns about Tehran carrying out mass executions for those arrested. Iran had planned a live-fire military drill for Sunday and today in the Strait of Hormuz.

‘India to buy oil from Venezuela, not Iran’

US President Donald Trump has claimed that India will be purchasing oil from Venezuela instead of Iran. Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One while flying to Palm Beach in Florida on Saturday, Trump made the remarks while responding to a question on whether China would recover money it had lent to Venezuela in exchange for oil supplies. 

“China is welcome to come in and would make a great deal on oil. We welcome China. We’ve already made a deal. India is coming in, and they’re going to be buying Venezuelan oil as opposed to buying it from Iran. So we’ve already made that deal, the concept of the deal,” he said. However, there was no immediate reaction from New Delhi on the US President’s comments.

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