Trump shows patience on Iran but it will not last, US envoy to NATO says

Iran’s parliament moved on Sunday to press for the expulsion of European military attaches from Tehran, after lawmakers said EU armed forces are “terrorist groups” in retaliation for Europe’s designation of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.

Alireza Salimi, a member of parliament’s presiding board, told Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf that military representatives posted at European embassies in Iran should be expelled immediately.

Salimi said parliament had passed a law classifying European armies as terrorists and argued that allowing their attaches to remain in the country would violate Iranian law. He urged the foreign ministry to notify embassies without delay.

Ghalibaf responded by instructing parliament’s national security and foreign policy committees to pursue the matter with the foreign ministry.

Iran’s civil aviation chief said on Sunday that no new flight warnings have been issued and that all domestic and international flights are operating according to schedule.

Abouzar Shiroudi, head of the Civil Aviation Organization, said there was no new NOTAM, or flight warning, in place and that air traffic was continuing normally.

“All flights are currently operating normally,” Shiroudi said. He added that the total number of flights has declined due to lower market demand, not operational or security restrictions.

“America should know that if it starts a war, this time it will be a regional war,” Khamenei said, dismissing recent US threats as nothing new.

He said American officials have repeatedly talked about war in the past, citing aircraft carriers and planes while claiming “all options are on the table,” including military action.

Khamenei also took aim at US President Donald Trump, saying Trump frequently says the United States has brought in ships, but that Iranians should not be intimidated by such moves.

He said the Iranian people are not swayed by these threats and will not be frightened by US military posturing.

“We are not the ones to start anything and we do not want to attack any country, but the Iranian nation will deliver a strong punch to anyone who attacks and harasses it,” he said.

In the same remarks, Khamenei described the recent unrest in Iran as resembling a coup attempt.

“The recent sedition was similar to a coup,” he said, adding that it was suppressed.

He said the goal was to damage sensitive and effective centers of governance, alleging that attackers targeted police, government institutions, Revolutionary Guard centers, banks and mosques, and that they set the Quran on fire. “They attacked the centers that run the country.”

Iran armed forces’ readiness is higher than during 12-day war, said the deputy commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on Sunday.

Ahmad Vahidi pointed to the US military movements in the region and said, “the enemies are trying to impose a war atmosphere, and this is part of their psychological operations."

He added that, “We must not fall into this trap, and the country’s activities must not be affected in any way by these operations.”

According to Vahidi, all enemy movements are completely under Iran’s control.

Iran will treat the armies of European Union countries as “terrorist groups” after the EU designated the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization, parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on Sunday.

“By trying to hit the Revolutionary Guards ... the Europeans actually shot themselves in the foot and once again made a decision against the interests of their people by blindly obeying the Americans,” Ghalibaf told lawmakers, who were wearing Revolutionary Guard uniforms in a show of support for the force.

“According to Article 7 of the law on countermeasures against the designation of the Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organisation, the armies of European countries are considered terrorist groups,” he added, saying parliament’s national security commission would consider expelling EU military attaches and pursue the matter with Iran’s foreign ministry.