Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf has accused the U.S. of planning a ground invasion as part of the next stage in the Iran war, and said such an intervention would be met with force.
Also on Sunday, Iran threatened to target American and Israeli universities in the Middle East as part of its war effort.
Meanwhile, ministers from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt met in Islamabad today in an attempt to come up with a plan to de-escalate the war. Pakistan has offered to host talks between the U.S. and Iran “in coming days.”
On Saturday, another group got involved in the expanding conflict: Yemen’s Houthis. The Iran-backed Houthis launched missiles towards Israel, and there’s concern their involvement could threaten another vital global shipping lane in the Red Sea.
Iran’s threat to America
In a post on social media platform Telegram, Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf struck an aggressive tone, writing: “the enemy publicly signals negotiations while secretly planning a ground invasion.”
“Our forces are ready for any US ground troops, and our response is clear: We’ll never accept humiliation,” Ghalibaf said.
Ghalibaf was referring to news that the U.S.S. Tripoli, carrying 3,500 U.S. marines and sailors, arrived in the region on Friday.
In a post on social media on Saturday, U.S. Central Command said that troops from the Japan-based 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit had arrived in the Middle East on the U.S.S. Tripoli.
The U.S. military will not say where and how they might be deployed. Thousands more soldiers from the U.S. military’s 82nd Airborne Division are also expected to be deployed.
Earlier, Iran rejected a 15 point plan the U.S. had proposed to end the war, and put forward its own proposal that would give Iran official control over the Strait of Hormuz and have the U.S. pay for war damages.
Iran threatens U.S. universities in region
Iranian authorities and residents say more airstrikes hit them overnight. Social media videos from across Iran showed strikes hitting all over the country.
Israel’s military said it had completed what it called a wide-scale wave of strikes targeting weapons production and storage sites.
Iran claims U.S.-Israeli strikes hit a Tehran university over the weekend and Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps threatened American university campuses in the Middle East in retaliation.
“We advise all employees, professors, and students of American universities in the region and residents of their surrounding areas” to stay a kilometer away from campuses, the statement, carried by Iranian media, said.
Several U.S. universities have campuses in the Gulf, including New York University in the United Arab Emirates and Texas A&M University, among others, in Qatar.
Meanwhile, Iran continues to fire drones and missiles at Gulf countries, with Kuwait saying it was intercepting missile and drone attacks early Sunday. Saudi Arabia said it intercepted and destroyed ten drones.
Iran also claimed it had attacked two major aluminium sites in Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Emirates Global Aluminium confirmed an Iranian attack wounded several and caused significant damage to its plant. (NPR)