Iran’s foreign minister on Wednesday delivered his bluntest warning yet to the United States, vowing a sweeping military response if Tehran comes under renewed attack, as U.S. forces visibly repositioned toward the Middle East amid mounting regional tension and a deepening crackdown at home.
In an opinion article published in The Wall Street Journal, Abbas Araghchi said Iran’s armed forces would respond “with everything we have” should hostilities resume, signaling a harder line as Washington moves an aircraft carrier strike group westward from Asia and deploys additional air and missile assets across the region.
The warning came as the USS Abraham Lincoln, accompanied by three destroyers, passed through the Strait of Malacca into the Indian Ocean, putting the carrier group days away from the Middle East, according to ship-tracking data and a U.S. Navy official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Recent U.S. military images also showed F-15E Strike Eagles arriving in the region and forces repositioning a HIMARS missile system, the same platform used extensively by Ukraine against Russia.
While U.S. defense officials stopped short of confirming the carrier’s final destination, its movement coincides with rising alarm among Gulf Arab states, whose diplomats have urged Washington to avoid a direct strike on Iran.
