War worry mounts in Iran after latest Trump threat

Anxiety and disinformation are swirling in Iran as the latest threat of a military attack by US president Donald Trump has many fearing war.

Trump warned on Monday that he would hold Iran and its leadership responsible if its Houthi allies retaliated for dozens of US air strikes on the Tehran-backed group.

The ultimatum followed a demand by the hawkish president the week before that Iran agree to a new nuclear deal or face attack.

Official media zealously swatted away apparently baseless reports circulating on social media on Monday evening that the US military had sunk Iran’s reconnaissance ship Zagros in the Red Sea.

Saberin News, a Telegram channel with nearly a million followers reportedly linked to the Revolutionary Guards, denied on Tuesday the presence of any Iranian navy ships in the Red Sea, Bab al-Mandab Strait and the Indian Ocean.

Iran's national currency plummeted to an unprecedented low on Trump's ominous remarks, with the rial falling past the 1,000,000-per-dollar threshold in the open market.

“The reason for the spike in foreign exchange rates is the US attack on Houthis and the expectation that Iran will be the next target,” Morteza, a businessman in Tehran, told Iran International on Tuesday.

“Interestingly, people are not afraid of war although they think it is inevitable this time. They believe it will only be the government who will bear the brunt of an attack, should it materialize, and that they will come to no harm themselves,” he added.

According to Iranian-Canadian political analyst Shahir Shahidsaless, Trump may be laying the groundwork for military action against Iran if negotiations fail, either due to Iran’s refusal to engage, a lack of flexibility in talks, or if IAEA chief Rafael Grossi’s June report confirms that Tehran is rapidly advancing its nuclear program.

In a post on X on Tuesday, Shahidsaless suggested that the US operation against the Houthis could be a prelude to an attack on the Islamic Republic.

Meanwhile, Nour News, a media outlet close to Iran's Supreme National Security Council suggested on Tuesday that Tehran could withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) if Trump acts on what it called his "delusion" that Iran seeks nuclear weapons.

A pro-government Iranian Middle East analyst and university lecturer, Mostafa Najafi, claimed in a post on X Monday that the United States has sent a backchannel message to Iran demanding the removal of its military and intelligence ships from the Red Sea and set a deadline.

According to Najafi, Iran has also warned “through its UN mission and at the military level against any American adventurism against its positions, interests, and assets.”

At the UN Security Council Monday evening, Iran's ambassador Amir-Saeid Iravani called Trump’s statements reckless and provocative and warned that any act of aggression against Iran could have severe consequences for international peace and security.

"Iran strongly and categorically rejects any accusation on the violation of relevant Security Council resolutions on arms embargoes in Yemen or involvement in any destabilizing activities in the region," Iravani said on Monday.

Iran and the Houthis have denied close military coordination, but weapons experts have linked the Yemeni fighters' advanced arsenal of anti-ship and ballistic missiles to Iranian technology. Iran has long presented the Houthis as an important part of its so-called "Axis of Resistance" against Israel and the United States.