DUBAI — The Middle East is bracing for an escalation of violence after Iran claimed it had received intelligence that the United States was preparing for a renewed bombing campaign against the Islamic republic.Tehran said any renewed US assault would bring retaliation against American bases and interests in the Middle East and warned regional countries against helping Washington.In a potential sign of growing tensions before the UN General Assembly in New York this week, President Donald Trump cut short a weekend visit to the Camp David presidential retreat on Sunday with no official explanation, and a new security alert was issued by the State Department to all US citizens in the Middle East.Keeping his options open, Trump reportedly told a Fox News reporter “very big things are going to be happening in the not-so-distant future” and that the options he was considering were “wiping Iran out, letting them rot economically or making a deal”.The State Department’s warning tells US citizens not to travel to Iran and urges Americans already in the country to leave immediately.According to the advisory, “there is risk for American citizens, including the possibility of being questioned, arrested or detained by Iranian authorities. US citizens, including dual US-Iranian nationals, may face particular difficulties.”The US State Department’s Iran travel advisory has kept the country at Level 4, the highest category in its travel warning system. According to the advisory, the risks include terrorism, civil unrest, kidnapping, arbitrary detention, torture and wrongful detention of US citizens.The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warned that if an attack does take place, “all US bases and interests in the region will become targets of continuous, effective and painful attacks without any limitations or considerations”.The warning, issued on Sunday by the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, which oversees Iran’s armed forces, raises the prospect of a new round of fighting after months of reduced direct attacks.The military command said states that allowed their territory or facilities to support US attacks would be “considered complicit” and could face an Iranian response.Trump said he would be open to meeting Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York this week.Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi left Tehran on Sunday evening for the UN General Assembly in New York, state media announced, adding that he is making a brief stopover in Qatar.Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf told lawmakers on Sunday that Tehran should use military force to push back its opponents before turning to diplomacy to secure any gains.Tehran has told Qatari and Pakistani mediators that conditions for renewed talks include an end to the war and US attacks, the release of frozen Iranian funds and the lifting of the US naval blockade on Iranian ports.Ghalibaf said the Strait of Hormuz would remain closed until Washington met what Iran says are its commitments under an earlier agreement.Qatar, which is mediating between the two sides, says its officials are travelling between capitals and exchanging proposals aimed at restarting negotiations.Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari said Doha had heard assurances from US officials that Washington wanted an agreement.The confrontation is already disrupting the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway linking the Gulf to the Arabian Sea and a key route for global energy shipments.Shipping data showed 12 commodity vessels crossed the strait over the weekend, down from 35 the previous weekend. The war began in late February after joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran.A 60-day memorandum reached in June reduced full-scale fighting but expired last month, with attacks around Hormuz increasing since then.
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