Iranologist Vardan Voskanyan writes
"As I wrote yesterday, one of the circumstances preventing US President Trump from carrying out a military operation against Iran at the moment is the danger of Tehran giving that operation the format of a large-scale regional war.
Today, for the first time, Iran's spiritual leader Ayatollah Khamenei made such a direct and unequivocal statement.
In his public speech, he specifically stated: "Let the Americans know that if they unleash a war this time, that war will be a regional war."
Under the term "regional war" Iran understands not only the anti-American and anti-Israel attacks by Iranian satellite forces in the Middle East, but also direct Iranian attacks on Israel and American military forces and infrastructures, especially in the Persian Gulf and adjacent areas, as well as the blocking of the Strait of Hormuz, which is of great importance for global energy security.
Parallel to all this, however, the channel of direct and indirect diplomatic contacts between Iran and the United States is also working, which was confirmed yesterday by both the Secretary of the Security Council of Iran and the President of the United States.
