A senior Iranian official said Monday that Tehran is prepared for an extended confrontation with the United States, warning that Iran is willing to keep striking targets in Gulf countries in an effort to push regional governments to pressure President Donald Trump to halt the conflict.

The remarks were made by Kamal Kharazi, a foreign policy adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, during an interview with CNN in Tehran. His comments reflected a defiant posture from the Iranian leadership as the war entered its tenth day, while also dismissing the possibility of diplomatic talks in the near term.

“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 the outlet on Monday.

“There’s no room unless the economic pressure would be built up to the extent that other countries would intervene to guarantee termination of aggression of Americans and Israelis against Iran,” Kharazi said.

Kharazi suggested that economic fallout from the conflict could eventually force Gulf Arab states and other nations to push Washington toward ending 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 to intervene,” he said.

Since the United States and Israel began their military campaign against Iran, Tehran has carried out attacks in several countries across the Middle East. Iranian officials claim the strikes are directed at American interests in Gulf states, though some of the missiles and drones have also struck residential areas and airports.

The fighting has sent shockwaves through global energy markets, threatening major oil infrastructure and shipping routes throughout the region. Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has sharply declined, while crude oil prices climbed above $100 per barrel on Monday, unsettling international markets and fueling concerns over rising energy costs.

Data compiled by Rapidan Energy Group indicates that roughly 20% of the world’s oil supply has been affected by the conflict — about twice the level of disruption recorded during the 1956–57 Suez crisis.

The war has also eliminated much of the oil market’s so-called spare capacity, the emergency production reserves that can typically be brought online quickly to stabilize supply during disruptions.

A spokesman for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said Sunday that Iranian forces are currently using about 60% of their military firepower to strike U.S. bases and what he described as “strategic interests” throughout the region.

{Matzav.com}