TEHRAN (AFP): Iran's top negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf threatened on Sunday to launch swifter and more forceful responses to US attacks, after an exchange of fire in which Tehran targeted American warships and the US attacked Iranian tankers.
"The Americans must have understood that the era of proportionate responses has come to an end," said Ghalibaf in a speech carried by state media, adding that "any aggression against Iran's interests and security will receive a faster, more intense and more painful response".
Saturday's attacks included the Revolutionary Guards saying they targeted a US naval drone, three oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz and US vessels elsewhere, as well as a US aircraft carrier and a destroyer.
The US Central Command (CENTCOM) had said its forces "disabled" two Iranian oil tankers off Iran's Kharg island and "completely destroyed" an unladen Iranian crude oil tanker in the Sea of Oman.
In its statement, CENTCOM said American warships had "successfully evaded" Iran's attacks.
Iran has largely blocked passage through the Strait of Homruz since the outbreak of war on February 28.
Washington has imposed a counter-blockade on Iranian ports and last month announced what it called an "economic asphyxiation" campaign on Iran aimed at strangling its already battered economy.
In his speech, Ghalibaf called on authorities to better manage Iranian imports to confront what he called the US campaign "seeking to paralyse the supply cycle and energy management".
On Sunday Revolutionary Guards spokesman Hossein Mohebi said Tehran through this war was seeking to inflict economic damage on the US.
"If America wants to inflict one dollar of economic damage on Iran, it inflicts tens of dollars of damage on itself," he added. -- AFP
