PARIS: Iran said on Monday that a US attack of any scale would spur the Islamic republic to respond "ferociously", after President Donald Trump said he was considering limited strikes against the country. The United States has built up forces in the Middle East to pile pressure on Iran to make a deal at negotiations due to restart on Thursday, with Trump weighing a limited strike if no agreement is reached.
On Monday Iran's foreign ministry reiterated that any strike, even limited, would be "would be regarded as an act of aggression. Period". "And any state would react to an act of aggression as part of its inherent right of self-defence ferociously so that's what we would do," ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said at a briefing in Tehran. The two countries concluded a second round of indirect talks in Switzerland on Tuesday. Further talks, confirmed by Iran but not by the United States, are scheduled for Thursday.
The European Union, which has been sidelined in mediation on Iran, called for a diplomatic solution ahead of the talks. "We don't need another war in this region. We already have a lot," EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers. "It is true that Iran is at its weakest point that they have been. We should be really using this time to find a diplomatic solution." Iran's clerical authorities have faced recent steep challenges, including a wave of mass protests that peaked in January, last year's 12-day war with Israel, and the weakening of Iran's regional proxies.
Iran has, however, insisted only discussions on the country's nuclear programme are on the table at mediated talks. The West believes the programme is aimed at making a bomb, which Tehran denies. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is leading the negotiations for Iran, while the United States is represented by envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner. Trump is wondering why Iran has not "capitulated" in the face of Washington's military deployment, Witkoff said in an interview with Fox News broadcast over the weekend.
Baqaei responded on Monday by saying that Iranians had never capitulated at any point in their history. Trump had initially threatened military action over the violent crackdown on the protests that rights groups say saw thousands of people killed by security forces, but his attention soon shifted to Iran's nuclear programme.
Meanwhile, India's foreign ministry urged its citizens on Monday to leave Iran, against a backdrop of fears of a possible US strike on Tehran. "In view of the evolving situation in Iran, Indian nationals who are currently in Iran... are advised to leave Iran by available means of transport, including commercial flights," the Indian Embassy in Tehran said in a post on social media.
India's foreign ministry estimates there are usually around 10,000 citizens in Iran. "All Indian citizens and PIOs (people of Indian origin) should exercise due caution, avoid areas of protests or demonstrations, stay in contact with the Indian Embassy in Iran and monitor local media for any developments," it added. The warning comes ahead of a planned visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Israel on Wednesday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said Modi's visit would help forge a new alliance to counter what he described as "radical" adversaries. Modi visited Israel as prime minister in 2017, before Netanyahu made a reciprocal visit to India the following year. — AFP
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