Iran plays down full-scale war risk as U.S. accused of truce breaches

TEHRAN: Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Wednesday that a return to full-scale war with the United States is unlikely, even as Tehran warned it remains prepared to respond to any attack.

The statement came a day after Iran accused Washington of committing the most serious ceasefire violations since an April truce took effect.

Mohammad Akbarzadeh, deputy political chief of the Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy, said the possibility of renewed war was low “because of the enemy’s weakness,” adding that Iranian forces were “lying in wait with full magazines.”

He warned that Iran would “turn the area from Chabahar to Mahshahr into a graveyard for aggressors,” naming locations at each end of Iran’s southern coast.

On Tuesday, Iran accused the U.S. of committing a “gross violation” of the ceasefire in the Hormozgan region over the preceding 48 hours, following U.S. strikes on missile launch sites and boats attempting to lay mines in southern Iran.

Iranian state media reported blasts in the port city of Bandar Abbas, near the Strait of Hormuz, and the Revolutionary Guards said their forces downed a U.S. drone and fired at an F-35 fighter jet.

CENTCOM spokesman Capt. Tim Hawkins described the strikes as “self-defense” actions to protect U.S. troops.

Despite the escalation, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday that a peace deal remained within reach. He insisted the Strait of Hormuz would reopen “one way or the other.”

Stock markets were mixed Wednesday, reflecting guarded optimism that a deal between the two sides could still be reached.

Iran and the U.S. have been engaged in weeks of negotiations, with Pakistan leading mediation efforts. Neither side appears ready to compromise on the key sticking points: the status of the Strait of Hormuz and Iran’s nuclear program. Iran blockaded the strait in retaliation for the war, while the U.S. responded with a counterblockade of Iranian ports.

Iranian state broadcaster IRIB said a senior delegation returned from a two-day visit to Qatar on Tuesday, and Tehran confirmed it was finalizing a 14-point framework for ending the war.

In a call with Qatari ruler Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said his country was “ready to reach a respectful framework to end the war.”

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, in a statement marking Eid al-Adha, declared Washington was losing its influence in the Middle East and warned regional countries against hosting U.S. military bases.