Lawmaker says Iran doesn't want direct or proxy war with US

In this Monday, May 20, 2019 photo, released by U.S. Navy, an F/A-18E Super Hornet from the "Jolly Rogers" of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 103 launches from the flight deck of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) on Arabian Sea. (Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Jeff Sherman/U.S. Navy via AP)

In this Monday, May 20, 2019 photo, an F/A-18E Super Hornet from the ìFist of the Fleetî of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 25 lands on the flight deck of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea. (Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Jeff Sherman/U.S. Navy via AP)

A prominent reformist lawmaker in Iran has reportedly said the Islamic Republic "under no circumstance" will enter a war with the U.S., either directly or through proxy forces.

Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh's comments on Wednesday, reported by the semi-official ILNA news agency, come amid heightened tensions between Tehran and Washington a year after President Donald Trump pulled America from Iran's nuclear deal with world powers.

Falahatpisheh was quoted as saying that "under no circumstance will we enter a war."

He added: "No group can announce that it has entered a proxy war from Iran's side."

That comes as Yemen's Iranian-allied Houthi rebels have launched drone attacks on Saudi Arabia amid the heightened tensions. The United Arab Emirates also says four oil tankers off its eastern coast were sabotaged.