Iran warns US against triggering war

“The use of the military option at any level means US entry into the war,” Tehran’s Permanent Mission to the UN told Newsweek on Monday.

Iran currently considers such a possibility to be “weak,” according to the statement. It added, however, that if “the US miscalculates and starts a war,” the consequences would be serious for the region and the wider world, and would be for Washington to bear.

The comments came after an attack on an Iranian Defense Ministry facility in the central city of Isfahan on Saturday night. Several news outlets reported that Israel had launched the strike. The attack allegedly involved three small drones carrying explosive charges.

Israel typically neither confirms nor denies claims of operations against Iran, although it is suspected of staging a number of sabotage attacks and assassinations of Iranian officials and scientists.

There was initial speculation in the Arab media that the explosions in Isfahan were the result of a US Air Force operation. Pentagon spokesperson Patrick Ryder later stated that no American forces were involved in the strike, but declined to comment further.

Iranian officials would not assign blame to any party and claimed that the attack had caused minimal damage to the roof of the building.