On Friday, may 10, the representative of the Maritime administration of the United States (MARAD) said that Iran may attack American commercial ships, including oil tankers. This conclusion was made from the statement by Iranian Ayatollah Yousef Tabatabai-Nejad, who in his prayer sermons in Isfahan said «the U.S. Navy in a billion [dollars] can be destroyed with one rocket.»
Semi-official news Agency ISNA quoted the part of speech of Ayatollah Yousef Tabatabai-Nejad: «If they make any movement, they… will face dozens of missiles, because the levers of power at this point will not be in the hands of careful officials, but in the hands of our beloved leader — Ayatollah Ali Khamenei».
Tabatabai-Nejad is a representative of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Iran and is considered one of the main opponents of the «reformist» Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.
Earlier that same day, the Deputy head of the political Bureau of the Iranian Revolutionary guards corps underlined that negotiations between the countries and the United States will not dare to attack Iran. «We will not negotiate. No negotiations with the United States on any issue, and the U.S. will not dare attack Iran,» said Yadollah Javani.
This statement Javani followed after Donald trump on Thursday called on the leaders of the Iranian regime to agree to negotiations regarding the termination of the nuclear program and said it could not rule out a military confrontation.
The US received intelligence on the preparation of Tehran to the attack on us forces in the region, hastened to strengthen its presence in the Gulf. So, on may 9 the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln passed through the Suez canal in Egypt, and on may 10, the press service of the Pentagon reported that «in the area of operational responsibility of Central command, U.S. (CENTCOM), the United States will move the air defense system of long-range Patriot and the amphibious ship USS Arlington (LPD-24)», which is to join the battle group of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln. The statement stressed that «the US is not seeking conflict with Iran, but we are determined and ready to defend forces and U.S. interests in the region» and the Ministry of defense «continues to monitor closely the actions of the Iranian regime.»
In Tehran, all of these actions are unjustified and are called some form of «psychological warfare», the purpose of which is to intimidate Iran.
Iranian Ambassador to the UN Majid Takht Ravanchi said that the American accusations against Iran «based on false intelligence», derived from «the same people who prepared the invasion of Iraq in 2003».
On Friday in Tehran and across the country held protest marches, in which protesters chanted: «America should know that sanctions have no power!» Iran has threatened to go further, if other parties to the agreement — Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia — will not be able to protect it from U.S. sanctions.
