TEHRAN, July 8 (Xinhua) -- A senior Iranian lawmaker said on Wednesday if the United States attacks Iran again, the country's options will include withdrawing from the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and changing its nuclear doctrine.
Ebrahim Rezaei, spokesman of the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, made the remarks in an interview with the semi-official Fars news agency.
"If the United States attacks our country again, we will respond with all our might and are ready to give a decisive and powerful response to the Americans," Rezaei said.
"In the future confrontation, the enemy will face an all-out and surprise offensive from Iran that will not be limited solely to the military field," he said, stressing that Iran will employ all its capacities and capabilities in the "the axis of resistance," and crush the U.S. assets and forces in the region while focusing concurrently on other strategic options.
He noted closing the Bab el-Mandeb Strait in addition to the Strait of Hormuz is one of the options, adding that the other one is withdrawing from the NPT, which will probably be placed on the agenda, and the parliament is ready to discuss the plan.
U.S. Central Command said in a post on X early Wednesday that its forces completed a new round of offensive strikes against Iran, "hitting over 80 targets with precision munitions as an immediate response to Iran's latest attacks on commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz."
The U.S. fresh attacks targeted several areas in Iran's southern Hormozgan, Khuzestan and Bushehr provinces, killing at least nine Iranian forces and two Iranian fishermen, according to Iranian media.
Later in the day, Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps and army said in separate statements that their forces hit U.S. military targets in Bahrain and Kuwait in retaliation for the strikes.
In an address to reporters in the Turkish capital Ankara on Wednesday, U.S. President Donald Trump said he believes that the memorandum of understanding (MoU) reached with Iran is "over," adding that negotiations between the United States and Iran will continue.
Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi and Qatar's Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani on Wednesday highlighted the importance of preventing escalation of tensions in the region.
In a phone call, the two sides discussed the latest regional situation, especially the recent developments in the Strait of Hormuz, and certain issues of common concern, according to a statement released by the Iranian Foreign Ministry.
On June 18, Iran and the United States signed the MoU on ending the war in the region on all fronts, including Lebanon. The latest clashes came as, under the MoU, the two countries are scheduled to hold negotiations within a 60-day period to reach a final agreement. ■
