Iran’s Parliament Speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf has warned the US against a ground invasion.
According to Iranian state media, Qalibaf asserted that Iranian forces were “waiting for the arrival of American troops on the ground to set them on fire and punish their regional partners forever.”
He also dismissed the ongoing talks in Pakistan as a cover after about 2,500 US Marines trained in amphibious landings arrived in the Middle East.
Iran also warned of escalation after Israeli airstrikes hit several universities, including ones that Israel claimed were used for nuclear research and development. Concerns over Iran’s nuclear program are at the heart of tensions.
Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on Saturday that dozens of universities and research centers have been hit, among them the Iran University of Science and Technology and Isfahan University of Technology.
The paramilitary Revolutionary Guard warned that Iran would consider Israeli universities and branches of US universities in the region “legitimate targets” unless offered safety assurances for Iranian universities.
US colleges have campuses in Qatar and the UAE, including Georgetown, New York and Northwestern universities. The Guard said in a statement, “If the US government wants its universities in the region spared, it should condemn the bombardment” of Iranian universities by midday Monday.
Both sides in the war have threatened to attack civilian facilities, which critics have warned could be a war crime.
The war has threatened global supplies of oil, natural gas and fertilizer and disrupted air travel. Iran’s grip on the strategic Strait of Hormuz has shaken markets and prices, and now the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels’ entry into the war could threaten shipping on another crucial waterway, the Bab el-Mandeb strait to the Red Sea.
More than 3,000 people have been killed in the war that began with USand Israeli strikes on Iran that triggered Iranian attacks on Israel and neighboring Gulf Arab states. Meanwhile, Israel has invaded Lebanon while targeting the Iranian-backed Hezbollah.
Iranian authorities say more than 1,900 people have been killed in the Islamic Republic, while 19 have been reported dead in Israel.In Lebanon, officials said more than 1,100 people have been killed.
In Iraq, where Iranian-supported militia groups have entered the conflict, 80 members of the security forces have died.In Gulf states, 20 people have been killed.
Regional Diplomats Meet In Pakistan In Hopes Of Opening Direct US-Iran Talks
Meanwhile, Pakistan hosted Ministers from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt. Pakistan said that the Foreign Ministers of Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt met in Islamabad without US or Israeli participation, days after the US offered Iran a 15-point “action list” as a framework for a possible peace deal. The Ministers are expected to meet again tomorrow.
Egypt’s Badr Abdelatty said that the meetings are aimed at opening a “direct dialogue” between the US and Iran, which have largely communicated through mediators. Both this war and last year’s 12-day war began during rounds of indirect talks.
Iranian officials have rejected the US framework and publicly dismissed the idea of negotiating under pressure. However, Press TV, the English-language arm of Iran’s state broadcaster, reported last week that Tehran had drafted its own five-point proposal that reportedly called for a halt to killing Iranian officials, guarantees against future attacks, reparations and Iran’s “exercise of sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz.”
Iran has eased some restrictions on commercial ships in the strait, agreeing late Saturday to allow 20 more Pakistani-flagged vessels to pass through. Pakistan’s former Ambassador to Iran, Asif Durrani, stated that it “sends a clear signal that Iran remains open for business with the world, provided the United States abandons coercion.”
Anwar Gargash, an adviser to the United Arab Emirates, called for any settlement to the war to include “clear guarantees” that Iranian attacks on neighbors will not be repeated. Gargash said that Iran’s government has become “the main threat” to Persian Gulf security and called for compensation for attacks on civilian infrastructure.
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