Iran ‘ready for everything’ as US deploys troops

Tehran, September 21 

Any country that attacks Iran will become the “main battlefield”, the Revolutionary Guards warned on Saturday after Washington ordered reinforcements to the Gulf following attacks on Saudi oil installations it blames on Tehran. 

Tensions escalated between arch-foes Iran and the US after last weekend’s attacks on Saudi energy giant Aramco’s Abqaiq processing plant and Khurais oilfield halved the kingdom’s oil output. 

Yemen’s Huthi rebels have claimed responsibility for the strikes but the US says it has concluded the attacks involved cruise missiles from Iran and amounted to “an act of war”. 

Washington approved the deployment of troops to Saudi Arabia at “the kingdom’s request,” Defence Secretary Mark Esper said, noting the forces would be “defensive in nature” and focused on air and missile defence. But Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Major General Hossein Salami said Iran was “ready for any type of scenario”. “Whoever wants their land to become the main battlefield, go ahead,” he told a news conference in Tehran. 

“We will never allow any war to encroach upon Iran’s territory,” he said, listing past anti-Iran US “adventures”. Salami was speaking at Tehran’s Islamic Revolution and Holy Defence museum during an exhibition displaying “downed US drones.” — AFP