Iran's chief negotiator warns US: strikes on military bases 'just the beginning'

Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, speaker of Iran's parliament and the country's lead negotiator in end-of-war talks, warned the United States on Sunday that "the era of proportional responses is over," saying any action that threatens Iran's interests and security will be met with "faster, heavier and more painful retaliation."

Speaking before parliament Sunday (local time), Qalibaf said the recent strikes on what he called aggressors' bases were "just the beginning," according to Iran's state-run IRNA news agency. "If the United States has not yet understood this, it must realize — before it is too late — that the rules of the game have completely changed," he said.

Qalibaf said American leaders, left in a "desperate situation" after US military bases sustained damage from Iranian strikes, were resorting to AI-generated fake images and videos to manipulate the battlefield narrative while spouting empty words and slogans.

He said the two key tools in confronting the enemy were internal cohesion and external deterrence, adding that the supreme leader's guidance against portraying Iran as weak "must be applied as a strategic directive across all sectors."

Qalibaf also called the economy and people's livelihoods another front in the conflict, urging Iran to rely on domestic production to "build a barrier against foreign greed" as the enemy tightens sanctions to paralyze supply chains and the energy sector.

Earlier, CENTCOM said it struck three Iranian crude oil tankers on Saturday after Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps fired ballistic missiles at two US Navy warships patrolling the waterway, according to CNN. CENTCOM said an aircraft carrier and a guided-missile destroyer evaded multiple attacks and that there were no US casualties.

CENTCOM said the vessels were part of a multibillion-dollar shadow network that funds the IRGC and its regional proxies.

CENTCOM Commander Brad Cooper said the message to the IRGC was clear. "You shoot at two of our ships, we will impose a much greater economic cost — by eliminating three of yours," he said, signaling no hesitation in destroying the tanker fleet.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted on X, formerly Twitter: "Simple. Iran shoots at US ships, we destroy and sink their tankers."

The strikes targeted Kharg Island, which handles about 90 percent of Iran's crude oil exports. The US had previously attacked military targets on the island while deliberately sparing oil facilities.

After roughly a month of relative calm, the US and Iran exchanged fire three times this week. An MOU the two sides signed in June has since effectively collapsed amid disputes over passage through the Strait of Hormuz and oil sanctions.