Iran Official Warns of ‘River of Blood’ if U.S. ‘Fires One Shot’ in Persian Gulf
The Speaker of the Iranian Parliament branded the United States a “wounded wolf” Friday and said that if America sheds one drop of blood in the Persian Gulf, “there will be a river of blood flowing in the world.”
The official, Hashemi Rafsanjani, declared at a Shia Muslim prayer session at Tehran University, “If America fires one shot in the Persian Gulf . . . the outcome would not be within their control.”
Rafsanjani’s speech, frequently interrupted by worshipers shouting “Death to America!”, was broadcast by Tehran radio and monitored in Nicosia.
He told the assemblage that President Reagan and the United States “are like a wounded wolf, and thus one cannot expect them to behave wisely.”
“Should America resort to this dangerous gamble and should there be an outbreak of war in the Persian Gulf,” he added, “ . . . we shall certainly engage in confrontation, and we shall certainly win.”
The Tehran government accuses Kuwait of aiding Iraq’s war effort and has attacked its ships and those trading with it.
The first of 11 U.S.-registered Kuwaiti tankers are expected to arrive in the gulf in a week. They will be escorted by U.S. warships.
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