Iran warning over US warship raises tensions

Along with oil prices:

IRAN: A threat by Iran to unleash the "full force" of its navy if a US aircraft carrier is redeployed to the Gulf, and an immediate American dismissal of the warning, sent tensions and oil prices soaring on Tuesday. The unprecedentedly sharp rhetoric raised the possibility of conflict breaking out between arch-foes Tehran and Washington, pitching a long standoff over Iran's nuclear programme into dangerous new territory.

"We don't have the intention of repeating our warning, and we warn only once," Brigadier General Ataollah Salehi, Iran's armed forces chief, said as he told Washington to keep its aircraft carrier out of the Gulf. The US carrier would face the "full force" of Iran's navy otherwise, a navy spokesman, Commodore Mahmoud Mousavi, told Iran's Arabic television service Al-Alam.

The White House brushed off the warning, with spokesman Jay Carney saying it "reflects the fact that Iran is in a position of weakness" as it struggles under international sanctions. AFP