Original article by Brett Wilkins republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Iran “has not been and will never be the one to initiate attacks on civilian targets,” said one Iranian military commander, but Tehran “will not hesitate to retaliate against despicable aggression on civilian facilities.”

Iran on Tuesday responded to US President Donald Trump’s threat to destroy its civilization by warning that further attacks on its civilian infrastructure would trigger a crushing response that “will exceed the region’s boundaries.”

Trump’s rhetoric has grown increasing genocidal as his Tuesday night deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz draws nearer, writing on his Truth Social network that “a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again,” if no deal is reached on the resumption of all shipping in the vital waterway, through which about 20% of the world’s oil passes.

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In response, Brig. Gen. Seyyed Majid Mousavi, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force, declared the start of a “new phase” of operations aimed at deterring further US-Israeli escalation by preparing in-kind attacks.

Iran “has not been and will never be the one to initiate attacks on civilian targets,” Mousavi said, warning that Tehran “will not hesitate to retaliate against despicable aggression on civilian facilities.”

Mousavi added that should Trump follow through on his threat, the IRGC “will inflict such damage on the infrastructure of the US and its partners that they will be deprived of the region’s oil and gas for years to come.”

Iranian Ambassador to the United Nations Amir-Saeid Iravani said Tuesday: “Iran will not stand idle in the face of such egregious war crimes. It will exercise, without hesitation, its inherent right of self-defense and will take immediate and proportionate reciprocal measures.”

Even as US and Israeli bombing has killed around 2,000 Iranians since February 28—including hundreds of women and children—Tehran has insisted that it does not want to retaliate against American civilians, who Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi recently said “overwhelmingly voted to end involvement in costly foreign wars.”

While Iran has responded to US and Israeli bombing of civilian sites with measured missile and drone strikes on energy and economic targets in Israel and Gulf nations allied with the United States, Tehran has notably abstained from carrying out retaliatory attacks on US civilians.

Iranian officials have also shown a surreal penchant for pairing ominous brinkmanship with defiantly deadpan trolling.

Following Trump’s Sunday ultimatum for Tehran to “open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards,” Iran’s Embassy in Zimbabwe quipped, “We’ve lost the keys.”

To which the Iranian Embassy in South Africa replied, “Shh… the key’s under the flowerpot.”

Highlighting Tehran’s policy of allowing ships from friendly nations to pass through the Strait of Hormuz—and throwing in a barb referring to the late child sex criminal and former Trump friend Jeffrey Epstein—Iran’s Embassy in Bulgaria posted: “Door’s open for friends. Epstein’s friends need keys.”

Echoing calls from across the US political spectrum, Iran’s Embassy in South Africa on Sunday urged congressional leaders to “seriously think about the 25th Amendment,” which allows for the dismissal of a president who is incapacitated, unable, or unwilling to perform their duties.

Iran’s UK Embassy chimed in with a quote from the iconic American author—and ardent anti-imperialist—Mark Twain: “It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.”

Ordinary Iranians, meanwhile, shrugged off Trump’s threat while trying to go about their lives the best they could under the circumstances.

“The first thing that came to my mind is that I think Trump is under a lot of pressure, and that he has lost his mind,” a Tehran resident who gave only her first name, Lili, told The New York Times on Tuesday, adding that the US-Israeli war has got Iranians rallying behind a government despised by millions of her compatriots.

“So now, we are supporting Iran and whatever government is running it,” she said.

Iranian businessman Pedram Soltani said in a social media message to Americans, “Your president has now placed not only Iran, but also America and the entire world at a tremendous risk.”

“If he pushes the war with Iran toward the destruction of bridges and power plants, more than 90 million people in Iran will be severely affected, and a humanitarian catastrophe will unfold,” Soltani continued, referring to Trump’s threat to attack such sites, which would be a war crime.

“Consequently, the war spreads further across the Middle East, and critical energy infrastructure in the region will be damaged,” he said. “This will trigger a surge in the prices of oil, petrochemicals, metals, and other essential commodities. The consequences will hit you and billions of others, through skyrocketing fuel prices and widespread food inflation.”

“At the same time, the United States will become one of the most hated countries in the world,” Soltani added.

According to numerous surveys, it already is.

Original article by Brett Wilkins republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

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