As Iran girds for an expected Israeli retaliatory strike following Tehran’s unprecedented launch of some 200 ballistic missiles at the Jewish State, an Iranian official warned Washington against helping defend Israel.

“The US has been delivering record amount of arms to Israel. It is now also putting lives of its troops at risk by deploying them to operate US missile systems in Israel,” wrote Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi on his official X account on Sunday.

“While we have made tremendous efforts in recent days to contain an all-out war in our region, I say it clearly that we have no red lines in defending our people and interests,” he added.

Fears in Iran are growing that Israel is gearing up to strike the country’s nuclear facilities or oil assets, though some media reports have suggested that Israel will avoid those sensitive targets.

CNN reported that Iran’s leadership are “extremely nervous” about the Israeli retaliation, which could also potentially see the assassinations of senior officials, such as the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameini.

Iran seems particularly concerned about the U.S. deploying the THAAD anti-ballistic missile advanced air defense system to Israel.

It’s likely that Tehran in planning to respond to an Israeli strike with yet another barrage of ballistic missiles, and the use of THAAD would likely greatly limit the efficacy of such an attack.

Saudi outlet Ashaq Al-Awsat recently reported that Iran is prepared to ignore a “limited” Israeli strike, but that attacks on its nuclear or oil facilities would be crossing a “red line.”

The report indicated that Iran’s message to Israel is that it will turn a blind eye to a minor strike, and will not respond despite its repeated threats to do so.

However, damage to Iran’s oil or nuclear assets would necessitate a forceful response, the outlet reported Iran as telling Israel through third parties.

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