Iran Threatens War "as Far as the Indian Ocean" as UK Warns Tehran and France Sends Troops to Saudi Arabia
Iran warns of a wider war, Britain draws a red line on threats at home, and France deploys forces to defend a Saudi oil port as attacks by the Iran-backed Houthis increase.
A top military adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader has warned that any renewed war against Iran could spread far beyond its borders, saying the country would expand the conflict's reach "as far as the Indian Ocean" if fighting restarts [249253]. The warning came as Tehran said any new United States military strike would push it to widen the "geography of the war," fighting in new locations with different weapons, without saying where or how it would strike back [246383].
The statements landed during a week of high-stakes diplomacy at the United Nations General Assembly in New York. UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband met Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi face to face on Thursday and told him that Britain will "not tolerate intimidation, threats or hostile activity on UK soil" from groups linked to Iran [249705]. The Foreign Office said the two diplomats discussed the war in the Middle East and the importance of reopening the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway for global oil shipments that Iran has threatened to close, and that Miliband expressed the UK's "unwavering resolve" on the matter [249705].
Iran's foreign minister said a new seven-day ceasefire plan could reopen the Strait of Hormuz within a week [249574]. The proposal came as U.S. and Iranian delegations met at the United Nations General Assembly, reopening diplomatic talks between the two countries [248799]. The talks took place as President Donald Trump threatened to "annihilate" Iran, while Iran's president responded by calling U.S. attacks "cowardly" [248799].
Separately, Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Tuesday that the country has the technology to produce missiles with much longer ranges [247915].
The tensions extended to the region's oil infrastructure. President Emmanuel Macron said France will send troops to defend an oil facility in Saudi Arabia, telling TF1 and France 2 that he would send soldiers and military support to help protect the Saudi port of Yanbu [249681]. The move came as the Iran-backed Houthi militia claimed responsibility for new attacks on the kingdom; Saudi Arabia said it intercepted missiles fired toward the Red Sea port of Yanbu on Thursday, and the Houthis have stepped up missile attacks on the kingdom in recent weeks [249681].