TEHRAN, February 1. /TASS/. The United States’ military aggression against Iran is fraught with sparking a large-scale regional conflict, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned.

"The Americans should be aware that if they start a war, this war will be of a regional level this time," the Tasnim news agency quoted him as saying.

He called on the Iranian people not to be afraid amid US President Donald Trump’s statements on the deployment of large amounts of weapons to the Middle East. "We never start wars and don’t want to attack any country, but the Iranian people will retaliate anyone who attacks and does harm," he stressed.

Trump said on January 26 that a "massive armada" was heading toward Iran. He expressed hope that Tehran would return to the negotiating table and conclude a "fair and equitable" deal, implying a complete renunciation of nuclear weapons. The US leader recalled that the United States carried out strikes on nuclear facilities in the Islamic republic last June in an operation dubbed Midnight Hammer. He warned that "the next attack will be far worse," urging not to let "that happen again.".