Exclusive: Iran is ready for a long war and only economic pain will end it, senior official tells CNN
CNN
By Frederik Pleitgen and Claudia Otto
Tehran – A top Iranian official has warned that the government is prepared for a long war with the US and signaled that it is willing to continue attacking Gulf countries in an effort to persuade them to convince President Donald Trump to step back from the conflict.
The warning came in an exclusive CNN interview in Tehran with Kamal Kharazi, foreign policy adviser to the office of the Supreme Leader, who ruled out diplomacy for now and said the war would only end through economic pain – signaling a hardening of the government’s stance on day 10 of the conflict.
“I don’t see any room for diplomacy anymore. Because Donald Trump had been deceiving others and not keeping with his promises, and we experienced this in two times of negotiations – that while we were engaged in negotiation, they struck us,” Kharazi told CNN on Monday.
“There’s no room unless the economic pressure would be built up to the extent that other countries would intervene to guarantee (the) termination of aggression of Americans and Israelis against Iran,” Kharazi said, suggesting that Gulf Arab countries and beyond need to put pressure on the US to end the war.
“This war has been producing a lot of pressure – economic pressure – on others, in terms of inflation, in terms of lack of energy, and so if it will be continued, this pressure will be built up more, and therefore others have no choice (but) to intervene,” he said.
Since the US and Israel launched the war, Iran has struck a slew of countries across the Middle East. Tehran claims it is targeting US interests in Gulf nations but residential buildings and airports have also repeatedly come under attack.
The Iranian strikes have exploited the fragility of the global energy trade including infrastructure and transit routes. Maritime traffic through the Straight of Hormuz has all but collapsed, with crude oil prices surging past $100 a barrel on Monday, rattling wallets and the stock market.
An estimated 20% of world oil supply has been disrupted by the ongoing conflict, roughly twice as big as the record set during the Suez Crisis of 1956-1957, according to historical data from Rapidan Energy Group.
Not only has the war derailed the flow of oil out of the region, it has also effectively wiped out the “spare capacity” that typically serves as a shock absorber in energy markets. Spare capacity measures how much more oil production could quickly get brought back online, if needed.
A spokesperson for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said Sunday that Iran is using 60% of its firepower to attack US bases and “strategic interests” in the region.
Meanwhile, Mojtaba Khamenei, the second son of former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was elevated to the country’s highest post over the weekend, an indication that further escalation is likely.
Asked if the Iranian military and the supreme leadership are as one going forward, Kharazi said: “Yes, exactly.”
“The responsibility of the leader of Islamic Republic of Iran is to lead the defense capability of Iran, and therefore, as Ayatollah Khamenei was doing that, now the new leader would do that,” he said.
Trump said last week that Khamenei’s appointment as his father’s successor would be “unacceptable” to him.
“That is not his business,” Kharazi said.
CNN’s Kara Fox, Catherine Nicholls and Matt Egan contributed reporting.
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