Iran warns US bases, assets will be 'legitimate targets' if America attacks

Amir Saeid Iravani, the Iranian ambassador to the United Nations, wrote a letter to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and the president of the Security Council on Thursday, warning that US bases, facilities and assets would be Iran's "legitimate targets" if the United States follows through on its military threats and attacks.

Iravani's statement came after US President Donald Trump deployed warships, fighter jets and other military hardware to the Middle East as he seeks to block Iran from building a nuclear bomb, something Tehran says it is not pursuing.

The letter, seen by AFP, cited a social media post by Trump on Wednesday, where he said the US may need to use UK military bases, including one on an Indian Ocean island, "should Iran decide not to make a deal."

"Such a belligerent statement by the President of the United States...signals a real risk of military aggression, the consequences of which would be catastrophic for the region and would constitute a grave threat to international peace and security," Iravani wrote in the letter.

He called for the Security Council — the UN's top decision-making body where Washington has veto power — to “ensure that the United States immediately ceases its unlawful threats of the use of force.”

The letter said Iran remains committed "to diplomatic solutions" and "on a reciprocal basis, addressing ambiguities regarding its peaceful nuclear programme."

But Iravani warned if Iran faced military aggression, "all bases, facilities, and assets of the hostile force in the region would constitute legitimate targets in the context of Iran's defensive response."

On Thursday, Trump said that Iran had at most 15 days to make a deal and again suggested that the United States would attack if failed to do so.

His comments followed talks on Tuesday in Geneva between US envoys Steve Witkoff and the president's son-in-law Jared Kushner, who met indirectly with Iran's top diplomat, who said that there was progress.

A previous attempt at negotiations collapsed when Israel launched surprise strikes on Iran last June, beginning a 12-day war that Washington briefly joined to bomb Iranian nuclear sites.

(With inputs from AFP)