Iran says Washington holds key to avoiding new war

If you’ve been following the back-and-forth between Tehran and Washington these past few weeks, here’s the latest statement to know about – and it’s a serious one.

Iran’s Parliament Speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said on Tuesday that his country is at its highest level of defensive readiness. He warned the United States against making another “strategic mistake” and said it’s now up to Washington to stop a new war from starting. This comes just a day after we reported on Trump’s renewed strike threat and Tehran’s warning of a longer war.

For people living in Kuwait, this matters because we sit right in the middle of this region. Any escalation between Iran and the US doesn’t stay far away – it affects flights, shipping, fuel prices and daily life here too.

What exactly did Ghalibaf say?

Speaking on Tuesday, Ghalibaf said regional countries should understand that Iran is “as ready for battle as if it had its finger on the trigger.” At the same time, he said Iran had given the US a strong and rational response already. In his words, “the ball is now in Washington’s court to prevent war.”

He went further, warning that any new strategic miscalculation from the US side would open up a new battlefield. That, he said, would make it even harder for Washington to find a way out of the conflict it’s already in.

Why is this happening now?

These comments don’t come out of nowhere. They follow reported US military strikes against Iranian targets on Qeshm Island, an island inside Iranian territory near the Strait of Hormuz. We covered the rising tension around that strike in our report on the Qeshm Island missile strike and its fallout.

There are also ongoing disagreements between Tehran and Washington over Iran’s nuclear programme, and over who controls security in the Strait of Hormuz – the narrow waterway through which a large share of the world’s oil passes.

This statement also lands in the middle of weeks of growing pressure. The US has reportedly loaded missiles on warships near Iran, and American officials have told Gulf states to brace for possible Iran strikes. Just last week, we reported that the US military’s top commander gave Trump new strike options against Iran.

So what does this mean for people in Kuwait?

Nothing has changed today in terms of daily life in Kuwait. No borders are closed, no flights are cancelled, and there’s no new official warning from Kuwaiti authorities linked to this specific statement.

But it’s another sign that the risk of a wider conflict near us hasn’t gone away. We’ve already reported on the deaths of six US troops, including an Iowa soldier, at Kuwait’s Shuaiba port last month, which shows how close this situation already is to home.

If you want a wider look at how this ongoing tension could touch daily life here – fuel, travel, safety advice – we put together a dedicated piece on what the Iran war tensions mean for people in Kuwait. For more coverage like this, check our International news section.

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