Iranian officials warned US against conflict

Senior Iranian officials warned the US against conflict Tuesday, as Russia's foreign minister spoke of a "downward spiral" and the US narrative of a deepening threat from Iran was questioned and contradicted.

Iranian leaders, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, said Tehran doesn't want a war that would devastate the region. They denied Iranian involvement in attacks on oil tankers in the Gulf and on a Saudi oil station, raising the possibility of sabotage. And they charged that Washington was unnecessarily escalating tensions with Tehran.

Ayatollah Khamenei told high ranking officials and lawmakers on Tuesday that "we don't seek a war nor do they." He reportedly said of the US that "they know a war wouldn't be beneficial for them."

Iran's diplomats made a similar case outside the country.

In London Tuesday, Iran's ambassador to the UK, Hamid Baeidinejad, told journalists that "if the US wants to draw Iran into a military conflict, they should be aware that this will be devastating, not just for the US, but also for the whole [Persian Gulf] region."

In the US, Iran's ambassador to the UN, Majid Takht Ravanchi, raised the specter of officials in Washington pushing for war.

Iran is "not in the business of trying to create conflict in our neighborhood," Ravanchi told CNN's "New Day," "because nobody is going to have benefit from such a conflict in our region except for a few ... some people in Washington and some countries in our neighborhood."

Asked about the heightened tensions during a trip to India, Iran's Foreign Minister Javad Zarif pointed to Washington as well. "Well unfortunately, the United States has been escalating the situation unnecessarily," Zarif said. "We do not seek escalation, but we have always defended ourselves."