A new mural warning the US not to launch a military strike on Iran has been unveiled in a square in central Tehran.
The painted image features damaged planes on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier with the slogan: “If you sow the wind, you will reap the whirlwind,” in Farsi and English.
The unveiling of the picture in Enghelab Square comes after a senior Iranian official said any attack will be treated “as an all-out war against us” ahead of the arrival of a US aircraft carrier and other warships to the region.
The square is used for gatherings called by the state, and authorities change its mural based on national occasions.
Donald Trump has said the assets are being moved “just in case” he decides to take action.
“We have a massive fleet heading in that direction and maybe we won’t have to use it,” the US president said on Thursday.
He earlier urged Iranian protesters – thousands of whom have been killed and tens of thousands more arrested by the regime’s forces – to keep demonstrating and promised that “help is on the way”.
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There have been no further protests for days, and Mr Trump claimed recently that Tehran had halted the executions of about 800 arrested protesters – a claim Iran’s top prosecutor called “completely false.”
But the US leader has indicated he is keeping his options open, saying on Thursday that any military action would make last June’s US strikes on Iranian nuclear sites “look like peanuts”.
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The US military has periodically sent extra forces to the Middle East at times of heightened tension in moves which have often been seen as defensive.
But a major build-up last year came ahead of its launching airstrikes against Iran‘s nuclear programme.
