That prompted the head of Iran’s top security body, Ali Larijani, to warn Mr Trump that “US interference in this internal matter would mean destabilising the entire region and destroying America’s interest”. The US president “should be mindful of their soldiers’ safety”, Mr Larijani added on X. Ali Shamkhani, an adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who previously was the council’s secretary for years, separately warned that “any interventionist hand that gets too close to the security of Iran will be cut.”
“The people of Iran properly know the experience of ‘being rescued’ by Americans: from Iraq and Afghanistan to Gaza,” he added on X. Iran’s hard-liner parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf also threatened that all American bases and forces would be “legitimate targets.” Iranian leaders including Mr Larijani and President Masoud Pezeshkian have in recent days described peaceful protests over Iran’s dire economy as legitimate and understandable.
