U.S. prepared for long-term standoff with Iran: official

The United States is fully prepared for a long-term standoff with Iran and that the deadlock and shipping disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz could persist for a year or longer, said a U.S. official on Friday following Tehran's warning against regional countries over supporting Washington in any renewed conflict.

The United States is prepared for the standoff, where the two sides could remain locked in a stalemate, a deal on Iran's nuclear program might still be unreached, and shipping through the Strait of Hormuz may not recover to pre-conflict levels in a year's time, said U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz with the Financial Times.

He added that the United States has the capacity to maintain its blockade on Iranian ports for the foreseeable future.

Iran warned regional countries on the same day that any support for the United States in the event of a renewed armed conflict will be regarded as a hostile act toward Tehran.

Iran has issued an ultimatum to Middle Eastern countries, demanding an immediate end to all support for the United States should hostilities reignite between Iran and the United States.

Failure to comply would result not only in strikes on their military bases but also in being classified as "hostile nations," Fada Hossein Maleki, a member of the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said in an interview with Russian news agency RIA Novosti on Friday.

U.S. prepared for long-term standoff with Iran: official

U.S. prepared for long-term standoff with Iran: official

U.S. prepared for long-term standoff with Iran: official

U.S. prepared for long-term standoff with Iran: official

Eurozone consumers' inflation expectations for the year ahead edged up in September, while their outlook for economic growth and the labor market darkened, according to the latest Consumer Expectations Survey published by the European Central Bank (ECB) on Friday.

The survey showed that median expectations for inflation over the next 12 months rose to 3.1 percent in September from 3.0 percent in August. Medium- and longer-term expectations remained unchanged, with those for three and five years ahead at 2.9 percent and 2.5 percent, respectively.

Eurozone annual inflation has climbed steadily since June, reaching 3.8 percent in September -- a three-year high and well above the ECB's 2 percent target, according to data from the EU's statistical office Eurostat.

Meanwhile, expectations for economic growth over the next 12 months fell to minus 1.5 percent from minus 1.2 percent, and the unemployment rate consumers expect in a year's time rose to 11.3 percent from 11.0 percent, pointing to deepening concern about the growth and jobs outlook.

Eurozone consumers' inflation expectations in year ahead edge up