‘Counting down minutes to ground invasion’: Iran dares US as renewed conflict enters 10th day

Iran on Monday dared the United States to attempt a ground invasion of the country as renewed hostilities entered their 10th day.

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said the United States would face "consequences of any adventure" to seize Kharg Island and warned that the Iranian leadership was "counting down the minutes to welcome" US forces in the event of a ground invasion.

Kharg Island is Iran's main oil and gas export terminal, which the United States has attacked multiple times during the ongoing war.

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The remarks came after the United States and Iran concluded their latest round of strikes, with the US military carrying out attacks across Iran and Iran targeting US military bases and personnel across West Asia. Iran has lately frequently attacked Bahrain, Kuwait, and Jordan, which host American bases and troops.

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Centcom said in a statement that it had concluded the ninth consecutive evening of strikes against Iran at 10 pm on Sunday.

Sharing a video of the US military carrying out attacks, Centcom said it had struck Iranian military command centres, air-defence and coastal-surveillance sites, maritime capabilities, missile and drone launch sites, and communications networks to "further diminish Iran's ability to attack commercial vessels and civilian mariners transiting the Strait of Hormuz".

In response to the American attacks, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) claimed it had destroyed an early-warning radar system in a drone strike and targeted an aviation equipment warehouse and a hangar housing US MQ-9 drones at the Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait.

Separately, air-raid sirens were activated in Bahrain, where the authorities said the air-defence system had repelled Iranian attacks.

Even as the United States and Iran remain locked in a cycle of attacks, both sides have said they have not ruled out a negotiated settlement to the conflict.

While US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Iran had signalled its readiness to reach a negotiated end to the conflict, he added that the regime remained deeply divided between those who favoured talks and those who preferred war. He also said Iran needed to change its behaviour by halting its ongoing attacks to give diplomacy a chance. For its part, Iran said it had received some proposals through mediators, though it did not elaborate.

As Firstpost's Madhur Sharma previously noted, Iran's recent display of unity masks deep divisions within the regime, with pragmatists led by President Massoud Pezeshkian and Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf increasingly at odds with ultra-hardliners in the IRGC. These hardliners are understood to be leading an initiative aimed at eliminating the possibility of dialogue and fully resuming the war.