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Iranian lawmakers have threatened missile strikes on European countries hosting US military bases, as state-run media warned on Wednesday that any renewed confrontation with the US could reach “the heart of Europe”.
“If America uses its bases in Europe, including in Italy and Germany, Iran’s missiles will be fired towards Europe,” Ahmad Bakhshayesh Ardestani, a member of parliament’s National Security Committee, told Euronews.
“In the two previous wars we did not do this, but this time we will not let Europe’s assistance to America for an attack on Iran go without consequence;” Ardestani added.
Asked whether Europe was entering a new phase of war with Iran, Ardestani said European countries had already been at war with Iran in the previous phase by allowing their bases to be used.
He said Iran would strike any base used against it and would also target “the material and non-material assets of countries that assist America.”
A second committee member, Fada Hossein Maleki, said Iran had prepared a new approach and scenario for any renewed conflict that he believed would surprise both the US and European countries.
German embassy message
The IRGC issued a statement on Wednesday — the anniversary of the 1979 seizure of the US embassy in Tehran, marked in Iran as “the day of fighting global arrogance” — pledging “an immediate, effective response without geographical limits to every level and type of threat.”
The statement cited orders attributed to Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei calling for updating Iran’s “target bank” and placing “the enemy’s material and non-material assets within range.”
Ahead of Wednesday’s anniversary marches, government supporters hung a banner outside the German embassy in Tehran carrying a quote from the secretary of Iran’s National Security Council, Mohsen Rezaei, “Europe will pay the price for supporting Israel.”
IRGC-affiliated Fars news agency identified those responsible as members of the student Basij at the University of Tehran.
Euronews sought comment from the German embassy in Tehran and Germany’s foreign ministry on whether the banner had been placed on the embassy railings. Both were unreachable at the time of publication.
Fars reported separately that Iran had warned Germany its military assets across the region would be treated as “legitimate defensive targets” if Berlin entered open military confrontation with Iran. The claim could not be independently verified.
Tehran has summoned Germany’s ambassador in recent weeks over Berlin’s support for Israel.
Kayhan newspaper, published under the supervision of a representative of Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, wrote that Iran’s range of potential targets was no longer confined to US bases in the Middle East and could extend to “the heart of Europe,” citing an order attributed to Khamenei for a “military response without geographical limits.”
Rezaei wrote on X that the US response to Iran’s demands had been “not convincing,” saying Washington would need to meet Iran’s seven conditions in full before reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
Parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf welcomed the Republicans’ defeat in Tuesday’s congressional elections in a post on X, writing that the American people had “said no to war” and that Iran supported that message.
“If the US government ignores the public will in order to act in favour of managers who pay bribes and engage in international blackmail, it will realise that our ‘no’ comes with a nightmare,” Ghalibaf added.
Asked whether he planned to take a tougher line against Iran, US President Donald Trump gave an ambiguous answer, saying he would examine the matter and act if needed.