Iran warns US against threats after deadly attack on troops

TEHRAN — Iran on Wednesday warned the United States not to threaten it, after Washington said it decided on a response to an attack that killed three American troops in an outpost  near the northeastern borders with Syria.

"America must stop using the language of threat and projection and focus on a political solution," Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said, according to the official IRNA news agency.

"Iran's response to threats is decisive and immediate," he added.

The killing of American troops in a drone strike on Sunday marked the first US military losses to hostile fire in the region since the Israeli war on Gaza war broke out on October 7.

US President Joe Biden, who blamed “radical Iran-backed militant groups”, said he had decided on a response but insisted that he was not seeking a wider war in the Middle East.

The White House warned that “multiple actions” could be taken in retaliation for the attack but gave no further details.

On Wednesday, Gen. Hossein Salami, head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said threats by American officials “will not go unanswered”, IRNA reported.

“We are not looking for war, but we are not afraid of war,” said Salami.

Iran has denied any links to the attack on the US troops and said it was not seeking an “expansion” of conflict in the Middle East.

Regional tensions have intensified since the Hamas-Israel war, drawing in Iran-backed groups in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen.

The Islamic republic has previously said it sees a “duty” to support what it calls “resistance groups” in the region but insists they are “independent” in decision and action.