Iranian MPs threaten missile strikes on Europe if US uses its bases there

A member of the Iranian parliament's National Security Committee has told Euronews that Iranian missiles will be fired at Europe if the United States uses its bases there, including in Italy and Germany, in any renewed attack on Iran. "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," said Ahmad Bakhshayesh Ardestani.

The threats landed on the anniversary of the 1979 seizure of the US embassy in Tehran, marked in Iran as "the day of fighting global arrogance." The Revolutionary Guards issued a statement pledging "an immediate, effective response without geographical limits to every level and type of threat," citing orders attributed to Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei to update Iran's "target bank" and place "the enemy's material and non-material assets within range." Kayhan, the newspaper published under the supervision of a Khamenei representative, wrote that the range of targets was no longer confined to US bases in the Middle East and could extend to "the heart of Europe."

The rhetorical escalation carries a specific implication for the continent. European governments hosted the logistics of the US-Iran war — Ramstein, the Mediterranean bases, port access — while describing it as America's war. Ardestani's answer, when asked whether Europe was entering a new phase of conflict, was that European countries had already been at war with Iran in the previous phase by allowing their bases to be used. A second committee member, Fada Hossein Maleki, said Iran had prepared an approach that would surprise both the US and Europe.

The threats come with practical groundwork. Government supporters hung a banner outside the German embassy in Tehran quoting National Security Council secretary Mohsen Rezaei — "Europe will pay the price for supporting Israel" — and the IRGC-affiliated Fars agency reported that Iran had warned Germany its military assets across the region would be treated as legitimate targets if Berlin entered open confrontation. Tehran has summoned Germany's ambassador in recent weeks over Berlin's support for Israel.

Iranian officials are simultaneously reading the US midterms as validation. Parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf welcomed the Republicans' defeat, writing that the American people had "said no to war" — and that if Washington ignored the public will, "it will realise that our 'no' comes with a nightmare." Rezaei added that the US response to Iran's seven conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz had been "not convincing."

Europe spent the war as America's landlord; Iran has now published the rent it intends to charge.