{"id":198925,"date":"2026-02-02T03:42:04","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T03:42:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/khamenei-warns-us-of-regional-war-if-iran-is-attacked-al-jazeera\/"},"modified":"2026-02-02T03:42:04","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T03:42:04","slug":"khamenei-warns-us-of-regional-war-if-iran-is-attacked-al-jazeera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/khamenei-warns-us-of-regional-war-if-iran-is-attacked-al-jazeera\/","title":{"rendered":"Khamenei warns US of \u2018regional war\u2019 if Iran is attacked – Al Jazeera"},"content":{"rendered":"

Iran\u2019s supreme leader accuses the US of aiming to seize his country\u2019s oil and natural gas resources.<\/em>
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Tehran, Iran<\/strong> \u2013 Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has warned the United States that any attack on his country would result in a \u201cregional war\u201d as US President Donald Trump amasses military assets in the Middle East.
\u201cThey should know that if they start a war this time, it will be a regional war,\u201d the 86-year-old supreme leader, who has held absolute power for 37 years, said at an event in downtown Tehran on Sunday.
He was speaking to a large crowd of supporters gathered to mark the anniversary of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini\u2019s return to Iran from exile in France in 1979, which led to the Iranian Revolution and the flight of the US-backed ruler, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi.
Khamenei said the US wants to \u201cdevour\u201d Iran and its vast oil and natural gas resources, adding that what happened during the recent antigovernment protests \u201cwas similar to a coup\u201d since a large number of government offices, banks and mosques were stormed.
The supreme leader described the deadly unrest as another \u201csedition\u201d, a term he had previously used for the 2009 Green Movement and other such protests.<\/span>
\u201cThe recent sedition was similar to a coup. Of course, the coup was suppressed,\u201d Khamenei said. \u201cTheir goal was to destroy sensitive and effective centres involved in running the country, and for this reason, they attacked the police, government centres, [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps or IRGC] facilities, banks and mosques and burned copies of the Quran.\u201d
Following Khamenei\u2019s speech, Trump said he hoped that Iran would agree to a deal.
Asked about the supreme leader\u2019s warning, Trump told reporters: \u201cOf course he is going to say that.
\u201cHopefully we\u2019ll make a deal. If we don\u2019t make a deal, then we\u2019ll find out whether or not he was right.\u201d<\/p>\n

The protests started on December 28 after shopkeepers in Tehran\u2019s business district protested Iran\u2019s rapid economic decline linked to local mismanagement and corruption, as well as the collapse of Iran\u2019s currency, the rial, amid sanctions imposed by the US and its allies.
But the protests soon morphed into nationwide expressions of anger over curtailed personal and social freedoms, an acute energy and water crisis, and severe air pollution, among other things.
The United Nations, international rights groups, and foreign-based opponents of the Iranian establishment say thousands were shot dead or stabbed by security forces during the protests.
A UN special rapporteur said the number of fatalities may surpass 20,000 as more information \u2013 stifled by a weeks-old internet blackout \u2013 comes out. US-based activists allege there were 6,713 deaths, and claim they are investigating 17,000 others. Other sources cite even higher figures.
Iranian authorities maintain that \u201cterrorists\u201d armed and funded by the US and Israel were responsible for the mass killings. The country\u2019s state media said the protests killed 3,117 people<\/a>, with 2,427 being civilians and the remainder being members of the security forces.
President Masoud Pezeshkian this week promised to release the names and information of every person killed during the unrest soon, but has provided no timeline for this. His government also sent a text message to Iranians, saying the move will counter the \u201cfake claims and figures\u201d.
\u201cOne-way text messages cannot wash away the blood. Many Iranians are in mourning,\u201d an Iranian woman told Al Jazeera.
In an apparent move to help calm the inflamed tensions within Iranian society, the government on Sunday sent another text message to citizens, telling them that women will soon be allowed to ride motorcycles in the country.
Iran\u2019s laws have so far blocked women from riding motorcycles, while the state continues to impose a mandatory dress code and punish violators.
Inside the Iranian parliament, meanwhile, familiar images were witnessed on Sunday as hardline lawmakers once again donned IRGC uniforms and chanted \u201cDeath to America\u201d with clenched fists.<\/p>\n

The move was in reaction to the European Union earlier this week designating the IRGC as a \u201cterrorist\u201d organisation. Tehran responded by proscribing the bloc\u2019s armed forces.
The IRGC, originally created shortly after the Iranian revolution to protect the fledgling theocratic establishment, has since transformed into a military powerhouse that also controls large parts of the Iranian economy.
\u201cSuch moves [by the EU] will not only fail to help with regional peace and security, but will also make the path of constructive engagement and coordination harder,\u201d the IRGC said in a statement on Sunday in response to its blacklisting.
Meanwhile, Iranian officials are also holding \u201ccelebrations\u201d across the country to mark the revolution\u2019s anniversary and bolster its defiant messaging.
Troops from the IRGC and the army, joined by the police and other security personnel, marched on the streets of Tehran on Sunday in an apparent show of strength. Soldiers on motorcycles led a parade from Mehrabad Airport to the Behesht-e Zahra cemetery, where Khomeini delivered his first speech in 1979. Soldiers were also photographed at Khomeini\u2019s mausoleum in Tehran as they \u201crenewed their covenant with the goals and ideals of the revolution\u201d.
Hamidreza Hajibabaei, who heads the committee organising the 10-day event marking the revolution\u2019s anniversary, said on Sunday that large demonstrations will be held on February 11 across the country to \u201cspell the end of the presence of global arrogance\u201d.
In his speech, Khamenei also stressed the importance of state-run events, claiming that millions of people participated in a pro-government rally on January 12 while \u201cmere thousands\u201d rose up against the Islamic Republic during the nationwide protests.
Meanwhile, Iranian state television and other affiliated networks continue to broadcast programmes condemning the \u201criots\u201d last month. A similar show on Ofogh, an IRGC-affiliated television channel, allegedly mocked the protesters, triggering angry online reactions and forcing the authorities to sack the channel\u2019s director.<\/span>
\u201cThey are only throwing more salt on our wounds,\u201d a young student told Al Jazeera, requesting anonymity due to safety concerns. \u201cThey say all our youth were killed by terrorists, then go ahead and mock the people who laid down their lives on state television.\u201d<\/p>\n

Follow Al Jazeera English:<\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Iran\u2019s supreme leader accuses the US of aiming to seize his country\u2019s oil and natural gas resources.ShareSaveTehran, Iran \u2013 Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has warned the United States that any attack on his country would result in a \u201cregional war\u201d as US President Donald Trump amasses military assets in the Middle East.\u201cThey should know […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":198926,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-198925","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-us","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=198925"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198925\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/198926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}