Iran said Monday that it is engaged in a “full-scale war” with the United States, which has expanded its strikes against the Islamic Republic to include the city of Bushehr, home to the country’s only operational nuclear power plant. Meanwhile, Tehran continued targeting Arab countries and claimed responsibility for attacks on two oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz.
اضافة اعلان
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said in a statement issued by the presidency, “The reality is that the Islamic Republic of Iran is engaged in a full-scale war,” adding, “We must be realistic and accept the natural consequences of this resistance.”
Over the past week, U.S. airstrikes have expanded beyond southern Iran, where attacks had been concentrated since hostilities resumed on July 7, to central and northwestern parts of the country, according to local officials.
One person was killed and several others were injured Monday in U.S. strikes on Tabriz in northwestern Iran, more than 1,000 kilometers from the Gulf, local authorities said. Additional casualties were reported in strikes targeting the neighboring city of Urmia.
Washington said it is targeting military sites. Tehran reported fresh strikes Monday on several cities, including Bushehr, where Iran’s only operational nuclear power plant is located. Iran also said the under-construction Darkhovin nuclear facility was struck on Sunday.
Three U.S. soldiers were recently killed in the Middle East, marking the first American military fatalities since the latest escalation.
At the same time, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said diplomatic contacts with the United States remain ongoing.
The U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a post on X that it had targeted “Iranian military command centers, air defense sites, coastal surveillance facilities, naval capabilities, missile and drone launch platforms, and communications networks” in an effort to further degrade Iran’s ability to attack commercial shipping and civilian mariners transiting the Strait of Hormuz.
Speaking to reporters upon his return to Washington after attending the FIFA World Cup final, President Donald Trump said, “We hit them very hard again tonight,” adding that the strikes were carried out in response to the killing of the three U.S. soldiers in recent days.
He added that the soldiers had died to ensure that “Iran cannot obtain a nuclear weapon.”
On the Iranian side, state media reported Monday that overnight U.S. strikes in the country’s northwest killed at least one person and wounded others south of Tabriz.
According to the latest official figures released by Iran’s Health Ministry, 50 people have been killed and more than 500 injured since fighting resumed in early July.
No accurate death toll is available for the period before the ceasefire reached on April 8—which quickly collapsed—but casualties are estimated to number in the hundreds.
The renewed fighting also derailed the memorandum of understanding signed on June 17, which had called for negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program and other issues aimed at reaching a permanent end to the conflict.
Speaking at a press conference in Tehran on Monday, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said Iran had “received messages” through mediators but declined to provide details.
“What matters is that the diplomatic apparatus has been active in recent days, and ideas have been conveyed to us through several intermediaries,” he said.
The latest escalation erupted around ten days ago over the Strait of Hormuz, where the Islamic Republic insists on controlling maritime traffic and dictating shipping routes, while Washington portrays itself as the guarantor of freedom of navigation through the strategic waterway.
The United States has reimposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports in response to Iran’s renewed closure of the strait. Baghaei said Monday that Iran would not allow the Strait of Hormuz to be used to threaten its national security.
Source: AFP
