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Exclusive: Iran is ready for a long war with the US and only economic pain will end it, senior official tells CNN | CNN

Iran is openly signaling a strategy of prolonged war and regional coercion, using continued strikes on Gulf states to force outside governments to pressure the U.S. president.

Iran War

Mar 9, 2026

Sources

https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/09/middleeast/iran-long-war-kamal-kharazi-interview-intl

Summary

Iran’s foreign policy adviser to the Supreme Leader said the government is prepared for a long war with the United States and is willing to keep attacking Gulf countries to pressure Washington. The stance signals an escalation strategy centered on coercing third-party states to intervene and on declaring diplomacy closed. The practical consequence is heightened regional risk as Iran frames continued strikes and economic pressure as the path to ending the conflict.

Detail

In an interview in Tehran with CNN’s Fred Pleitgen, Kamal Kharazi, foreign policy adviser to the office of Iran’s Supreme Leader, said Iran can continue the war with the United States “for a long time” and that he does not see room for diplomacy. Kharazi said Iran’s position hardened on day 10 of the conflict and tied any end to the war to economic pressure sufficient to prompt other countries to intervene to guarantee a termination of what he described as American and Israeli aggression against Iran.

He also signaled Iran’s willingness to continue attacking Gulf countries in an effort to persuade them to pressure President Donald Trump to step back from the conflict. CNN stated it is operating in Iran with government permission required by local regulations and that Iran does not review, approve, or preview CNN’s reporting prior to publication or broadcast.

US State Department rejects Iran’s claim of 100 Americans killed in Dubai

When war logic expands to threaten water infrastructure, civilian survival becomes a bargaining chip and mass disruption is treated as leverage rather than a red line.

Executive

Mar 5, 2026

Sources

https://www.iranintl.com/en/202603051892

Summary

Desalination infrastructure across the Gulf is a central dependency for drinking water, with GCC countries producing about 40% of the world’s desalinated water and operating more than 400 plants. The conflict described is shifting from conventional targets toward critical civilian infrastructure as a strategic pressure point, where threats to water systems become instruments of regional coercion. A strike, sabotage, cyberattack, or contamination event affecting desalination facilities could rapidly cascade into loss of potable water, electricity, sanitation, and public order.

Reality Check

Normalizing warfare that credibly threatens civilian water systems erases the boundary between military conflict and mass coercion against daily life. Once water, sanitation, and power are treated as instruments of pressure, the incentive structure shifts toward collective punishment and engineered instability, not negotiated restraint. Our security expectations degrade when critical lifelines are reframed as legitimate targets, making future crises more likely to cascade into public health breakdown and social disorder.

Media

Detail

GCC states rely heavily on desalination for drinking water, including about 90% of Kuwait’s supply, 86% of Oman’s, and 70% of Saudi Arabia’s. The text describes how disruption to desalination plants—through a strike, sabotage, cyberattack, or contamination—could trigger a human security crisis by simultaneously affecting drinking water, electricity, sanitation, and public order.

It cites a warning from Qatar’s prime minister that an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities could contaminate regional waters and threatens life in Qatar, the UAE, and Kuwait, and notes Qatar assessed it could run out of potable water after three days in such a scenario, prompting construction of 15 large reservoirs. It references a 2025 Middle East Institute warning that centralized desalination is a strategic vulnerability and notes research that oil spills and red tides can force desalination shutdowns. A leaked 2008 US diplomatic cable from Riyadh is cited as stating Jubail supplied over 90% of Riyadh’s drinking water and that severe damage could require evacuation within a week.