Araghchi blames ‘serpent’ Netanyahu for luring Washington into war on Iran

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has said that Tehran will respond decisively to further attacks following the US bombing of Larak Island, which killed and wounded Iranian civilians and soldiers.

Speaking on Monday before travelling to Bishkek for a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit, Pezeshkian said Iran “is not looking for war” but would “never sit still in the face of any aggression”.

Iran “will give a decisive response to the aggressors” if attacked again, he said, according to the Fars news agency.

“Instability and unrest in the region are not in the interest of any country and will challenge everyone,” he added.

US forces bombed Larak Island on Sunday, the official state broadcaster IRIB reported. It marked Washington’s first attack on Iran since July and raised fears of another escalation in the Israeli-US war against the country.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of manoeuvring Washington into fighting Israel’s war.

Over the weekend, Netanyahu said he had spent decades and “almost 1,000 hours” appearing on American television to push the case for military action against Iran.

“In Hebrew, Netanyahu openly crows that he suckered the U.S. Administration into a war on Iran on behalf of Israel,” Araghchi wrote on X, describing the Israeli leader as a “serpent”.

Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said “foreigners must be cut off” from the region and warned that Washington needed to “learn a serious lesson” so it does not “repeat their aggressions”.

Trump later posted an AI-generated video purporting to show an attack on Kharg Island, Iran’s principal oil export hub. He captioned it: “Kharg Island being blown to smithereens!!! President DJT”.

The head of the National Iranian Oil Company dismissed the video, saying Trump’s “tweets are laughable”. The company said operations on Kharg Island had not stopped and that conditions remained calm. Workers were continuing to repair damage from previous attacks.

Kharg Island handled about 90 percent of Iran’s oil exports before the war.

US military warns Trump against escalation

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said a supertanker using the Strait of Hormuz’s southern route struck two sea mines, caught fire and stopped.

“The IRGC Navy once again warns that the fate of ships that violate the security regulations of the Strait of Hormuz will be no different,” the IRGC said. “It is mandatory to comply with the regulations issued by the IRGC Navy for passage and navigation.”

Iran has largely closed the strait, although several vessels have travelled closer to Oman, sometimes with US assistance. Tehran has repeatedly warned ships against using routes it has designated unauthorised.

UAE presidential adviser Anwar Gargash again pleaded for “realistic and sustainable” political solutions based on de-escalation and the restoration of shipping through the strait.

He said any plan must go “beyond” the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which he said “failed to outline a practical and acceptable roadmap”.

Iran has continued to insist that renewed talks with the US must be based on what the two sides agreed in the MoU.

The UAE Defence Ministry, meanwhile, denied Iranian statements that missiles had struck Al Minhad airbase, saying reports of an attack “are false”.

Meanwhile, the heads of the US army, navy and air force, alongside commanders overseeing Europe, Asia and Latin America, warned Secretary of War Pete Hegseth that continued large-scale operations against Iran were stretching American forces worldwide, The Washington Post reported.

Washington has diverted ships, aircraft and equipment from other regions, weakening commanders’ ability to conduct missions and train troops.

More than 50,000 US personnel have remained on alert for months as Trump threatens further attacks to force Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and accept Washington’s terms for ending the war.