Senior Iranian Commander Warns:

First Bullet Fired in Persian Gulf to Push Oil Above $100

Date: 02 June 2019 - 21:50

News ID: ۶۶۶۷۰

TEHRAN (Dispatches) -- U.S. military vessels in the Persian Gulf are within range of Iranian missiles, a top military aide to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said on Sunday, warning any clash between the two countries would push oil prices above $100 a barrel.
Iran and the United States have been drawn into starker confrontation in the past month, a year after Washington pulled out of a nuclear deal between Iran and global powers.
Washington re-imposed sanctions last year and ratcheted them up in May, ordering all countries to halt imports of Iranian oil. In recent weeks it has also hinted at military confrontation, saying it was sending extra forces to the Middle East to respond to an Iranian threat.
Yahya Rahim Safavi, a top military aide to Ayatollah Khamenei, said: "The Americans are fully aware that their military forces (in the region) are within the Iran’s missile range and all U.S. and foreigners’ navy in the Persian Gulf are within the range of land-to-sea missiles of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps.”
"The first bullet fired in the Persian Gulf will push oil prices above $100. This would be unbearable to America, Europe and the U.S. allies like Japan and South Korea,” Rahim Safavi was quoted as saying by Fars news agency.
U.S. President Donald Trump has condemned the nuclear deal, signed by his predecessor Barack Obama, as flawed for not being permanent and for not covering Iran’s ballistic missile program and role in the Middle East.
Trump said last week he was hopeful Iran would come to negotiating table to reach a new deal.
Dismissing any negotiations with Washington on Iran’s missile program, Iran’s Armed Forces Chief of Staff Major General Muhammad Baqeri was quoted as saying by Fars on Sunday: "Iranian nation with not retreat an iota from Iran’s defensive capabilities.”
Another senior military official reiterated the futility of attempts to have Iran negotiate on its defense capabilities.
Deputy Chief of the Army for Coordination Rear Admiral Sayyari said Ayatollah Khamenei’s recent remarks about the impossibility of talks on Iran’s defense and missile capabilities were crystal clear.
"We declare explicitly that Iran’s defense and missile power is absolutely non-negotiable,” the general underscored, saying nobody would ever bargain over the country’s defense capabilities.
Asked about Europe’s willingness to hold fresh talks with Iran with the purported purpose of completing the 2015 nuclear deal, Sayyari said, "The Europeans may have many wishes and dreams, but we won’t let them achieve the dream of missile talks with Iran.”
Echoing Ayatollah Khamenei’s remarks last month, the commander denounced negotiations with the U.S. as a poison.
The Leader categorically dismissed the idea of talks with the U.S., saying, "Negotiation is poison. As long as the U.S. continues to be what it is now - as Imam (Khomeini) once said, ‘as long as he does not act like a decent human being’: this is how he worded it - our negotiation with the U.S. is poison, even more so with the current administration.”
Ayatollah Khamenei has also reiterated on various occasions that Iran’s defense capabilities and power are not subject to negotiations.
"We will not deal with the enemy over the country’s means of defense and over whatever provides or supports the national power,” the Leader has said.