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Tehran would respond forcefully if the United States intervenes directly in support of Israel, Iran’s deputy foreign minister Kazem Gharibabadi said Thursday,
“Iran will have no other option but to use its tools to teach aggressors a lesson,” he said, according to state media.
Iran’s military command “has all necessary options on the table,” Gharibabadi added, urging Washington to stay out of the conflict.
“Our recommendation to the US is to at least stand by if they do not wish to stop Israel’s aggression,” he said, amid escalating attacks between Tehran and Tel Aviv.
Israeli military strikes have spread to 21 provinces across Iran, the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reported, marking the seventh day of direct conflict.
HRANA said at least 639 people have been killed and 1,329 wounded since the attacks began on June 14, bringing total casualties to 1,968.
The organization’s figures cover the entire country, though Iranian authorities have yet to specify how many of the dead are civilians or military personnel.
On Thursday, Israeli strikes targeted Tehran, Karaj, Shiraz, and Arak’s heavy water reactor, but full damage assessments remain unavailable.
Israeli emergency services reported Wednesday that Iran’s attacks have killed 24 people and injured more than 1,300, further deepening fears of a prolonged regional conflict.
Israel's emergency rescue service said the number of people injured in the Islamic Republic's missile attack on Thursday at a hospital and civilian areas has risen to 70.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is hiding in a fortified bunker while ordering direct attacks on hospitals and residential buildings in Israel, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Thursday.
“These are among the gravest war crimes, and Khamenei will be held accountable,” Katz posted on X.
He said he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had instructed the IDF to intensify strikes on strategic and government targets in Iran, including in Tehran, to eliminate threats to Israel and "undermine the ayatollahs’ regime".
Top Senate Democrats on Wednesday accused US President Donald Trump of risking war with Iran without legal authority, hours after Trump said the Islamic Republic’s downfall was possible and suggested he might bomb key nuclear sites.
“I want total and complete victory,” Trump said in Washington, dismissing any notion of a ceasefire and suggesting Iran had asked for talks. “They should have negotiated sooner.”
The president said Iranian officials had even proposed a visit to the White House, a remark later denied by Iran’s UN mission in New York.
The statements came as ABC News reported that Trump was increasingly open to a military strike on Iran’s underground Fordow nuclear site, citing a source familiar with current intelligence.
Democratic senators call for legal authority
Five senior Senate Democrats issued a joint statement criticizing what they called the administration’s “lack of preparation, strategy, and clearly defined objectives” on Iran.
“The United States cannot sleepwalk into a third war in as many decades,” the senators wrote, warning Trump against bypassing congressional approval.
“By law, the president must consult Congress and seek authorization if he is considering taking the country to war," they said.
“He owes Congress and the American people a strategy for US engagement in the region.”
The signatories included Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Chris Coons, Mark Warner, Jack Reed, and Patty Murray.
Iran vows response if provoked
Iran’s UN ambassador in Geneva warned that any trace of US involvement in Israeli attacks would trigger retaliation.
Mojtaba Ranjbar, a Iranian cleric, said, “If the United States targets the Supreme Leader, Iran will strike Washington and New York.”
Trump described Iran as “totally defenseless,” intensifying speculation over imminent military action.
With threats traded and authorizations absent, the risk of open conflict is rising as Washington and Tehran continue to exchange warnings without resolution.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it successfully carried out a 14th wave of combined missile attacks targeting strategic sites in Israel, state media reported on Thursday.
The IRGC described the strikes as part of a broader operation against what it called “Zionist enemy targets in the occupied territories.”
