The Speaker of the Iranian Parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, warned US President Donald Trump today that there will be consequences for the US military in the region if Washington decides to attack the Islamic Republic, DPA reported, BTA reported.
“Maybe Mr. Trump can start a war, but he will not have control over it“, Ghalibaf said on the American television channel CNN. He added that thousands of American troops stationed thousands of miles from home could certainly be harmed.
Yesterday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio threatened Iran with a preemptive military strike if the leadership in Tehran planned to attack American military sites.
During a Senate hearing, Rubio said that the US has deployed between 30,000 and 40,000 troops at several sites in the region, all of which are within range of thousands of Iranian drones and short-range ballistic missiles. He justified the increased presence with the protection of allies such as Israel from potential Iranian strikes.
Russia is ready, if necessary, to evacuate its personnel from the Iranian Bushehr nuclear power plant, the head of the Russian state nuclear energy corporation Rosatom said today. Alexey Likhachev, quoted by TASS and Reuters.
Last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that thousands of Russians work at Iran's only nuclear power plant. It was built by Moscow for the country's needs. Russia is currently building other nuclear facilities near Bushehr.
The United States did not attack the Bushehr nuclear power plant during the US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities in June last year.
At that time, Likhachev warned that an attack on the facility could cause a catastrophe comparable to the Chernobyl disaster in 1986.
“During the so-called summer conflict, or the summer war, the territory of the Bushehr plant was the safest place in Iran,“ he said.
US President Donald Trump is considering a major new strike on Iran after talks between Washington and Tehran to curb Iran's nuclear program and production have stalled.