Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued his sharpest warning yet to the United States on Sunday, saying any American military attack on Iran would ignite a “regional war” across the Middle East, as tensions surge amid nationwide protests and U.S. military movements near Iranian waters.
Khamenei’s remarks come as U.S. President Donald Trump continues to publicly weigh military options while insisting Tehran is “seriously talking” with Washington over negotiations, including Iran’s nuclear program.
Speaking at his compound in Tehran during commemorations marking the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the 86-year-old leader accused the U.S. of seeking to “seize” Iran’s natural resources and framed recent unrest as an attempted coup.
“The Americans must be aware that if they wage a war this time, it will be a regional war,” Khamenei said, adding that Iran would respond with “a heavy blow” to any attack.
The warning follows the deployment of the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group to the Arabian Sea, a move ordered by Trump after Iran’s violent crackdown on protests that erupted in late December over economic collapse and rapidly escalated into direct challenges to Khamenei’s rule.
Human rights groups estimate tens of thousands have been detained and thousands killed, figures Iran strongly disputes. Iranian authorities have labeled many protesters “seditionists,” a charge that can carry the death penalty — a scenario Trump has described as a red line for U.S. military action.
Further escalating tensions, Iran announced live-fire military drills in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint through which roughly one-fifth of global oil trade passes. U.S. Central Command has warned Tehran against threatening American forces or disrupting commercial shipping.
At the same time, Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf declared all European Union militaries “terrorist groups,” retaliating after the EU designated Iran’s Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization over its role in the crackdown. Lawmakers punctuated the announcement with chants of “Death to America” and “Death to Israel.”
Trump, meanwhile, has remained deliberately ambiguous. Speaking to reporters en route to Florida, he declined to confirm whether he had decided on military action but reiterated that Iran must reach a “satisfactory” deal to prevent it from obtaining nuclear weapons.
“I don’t know that they will,” Trump said. “But they are talking to us. Seriously talking to us.”
As protests, sanctions, military posturing, and nuclear tensions converge, analysts warn the standoff risks tipping from brinkmanship into a wider regional conflict — one with global economic and security implications.
