As Trump Weighs Attack Plans, Iran Says US Intervention Would Be 'Recipe for All-Out War'

The Iranian Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that any U.S. intervention in the escalating conflict that Israel started last week would be "a recipe for an all-out war in the region," a warning that came as President Donald Trump weighed plans for a direct strike on Iran without congressional authorization.

Deeper American involvement in the war "would be extremely reckless, extremely irresponsible," Esmail Baghaei, a spokesperson for Iran's Foreign Ministry, told Al Jazeera English after Israel and Iran traded attacks overnight.

Baghaei acknowledged that the U.S., through its military support for Israel and heavy presence in the region, is already enmeshed in the conflict and that Israel launched its assault on Iran with at least tacit approval from the Trump administration.

"No one can imagine in our region, not only in Iran, that Israel started this war without prior green light by the United States," Baghaei said, urging the international community to act before the conflict becomes a full-scale regional war. "I think the whole international community, in particular those who are members of the [United Nations] Security Council, must shoulder their responsibility and act in order to stop this aggression."

"No president should be able to bypass Congress' constitutional authority over matters of war."

Baghaei's remarks came amid reports that Trump's national security team has presented him with options for a U.S. attack on Iran's deeply entrenched Fordow nuclear site. The president, who has demanded "unconditional surrender" from Iran and threatened to assassinate the country's leader, is considering the options at the urging of Israeli officials and war hawks in Congress.

The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that "a third U.S. Navy destroyer entered the eastern Mediterranean Sea to help defend Israel, and a second U.S. carrier strike group is heading toward the Arabian Sea."

"While the Pentagon says the military buildup is purely defensive, it puts the U.S. on a firmer footing to join Israeli attacks on Iran should Trump decide to do that," the Journal noted.

One unnamed Israeli official told CNN on Tuesday that the country's entire military operation in Iran is "premised on the fact that the U.S. will join at some point." Israel's foreign minister has openly compared Iran's supreme leader to Saddam Hussein, the former Iraqi president who was executed following the 2003 U.S. invasion.

Iran is reportedly preparing to launch retaliatory strikes on American military bases in the Middle East in the case of a U.S. attack.

"Getting the U.S. mired in the Mother of Forever Wars will destroy any prospect for a negotiated solution, with dangerous, unpredictable, and likely UNFATHOMABLE consequences for regional security and the global economy," Abbas Araghchi, Iran's foreign minister, wrote in a social media post earlier this week.

Meanwhile, in the U.S. Congress, support for resolutions aimed at preventing Trump from launching an attack on Iran without lawmakers' approval continued to grow. According to a tally by Zeteo's Prem Thakker, at least 32 lawmakers in the House and Senate have backed anti-war resolutions introduced this week.

"No president should be able to bypass Congress' constitutional authority over matters of war," Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), who is co-leading a House war powers resolution alongside Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), said in a statement Tuesday.

"The American people do not want to be dragged into another disastrous conflict in the Middle East," Khanna added.