Iran's acting Friday prayer leader in Tehran said the United States cannot repeat past "foolishness" following what he described as a 12-day war that demonstrated the country's military capabilities, state-controlled Mehr reported on January 30.

Mohammad Hassan Abutorabifard told the faithful at Tehran's Mosalla prayer ground that the conflict placed Iran in a "special and privileged position of power," in a bid to rebuff increasing rhetoric by the US administration over an impending. His comments are seen as a direct line from the office of the country's Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, who previously held mass. 

"I am confident that America cannot repeat the foolishness of the past," Abotorabifard said, goading the US administration as talks are currently underway with regional leaders and directly with the US. 

The cleric said the war, which involved the participation of Israel, the United States and their Western allies, was "the most glorious war in Iran's recent centuries" and transformed hatred of Israel and America in the Islamic world into a "general hegemony". He said the conflict revealed "the ugly and black face of America and the Zionist [Israel] regime" and displayed the solidarity of the Iranian nation before the international community.

Abotorabifard said the 12-day conflict saw Iran's military command demonstrate the country's "devastating defensive power to the world" and that "in this unequal war, the soft and hard power of the Islamic Republic of Iran forced America to surrender and ended the myth of the Zionist regime's deterrence forever".

He praised Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces as men who displayed God's power to the world, but failed to mention the deaths of at least 3,100 people in recent protests against the state of the economy and political situation in the country.

Abotorabifard described the European Union's decision to designate the IRGC as a terrorist organisation as "faded" and an illogical and provocative move in line with the hegemonic policies of Washington and Tel Aviv.

"The weak and self-defeating leaders of Europe should know this action is a clear violation of international law and the principles of national sovereignty," he said.

The cleric said unilateralism would have no place in the future of global politics, citing former US national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski's book "America and the Crisis of Global Power".

He said rapid changes in the distribution of global power meant that "global politics are necessarily increasingly in conflict with the concentration of power in the hands of one country or particular government".

"The colour and appearance of America's global appeal has faded and the world is witnessing the decline of America's political and economic power domestically and internationally," Abotorabifard noted.

The United States has deployed the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group to the Middle East as tensions with Iran escalate, in a military buildup reminiscent of preparations before Washington bombed Iranian nuclear sites during last June's 12-day war.

The nuclear-powered carrier, which departed San Diego in November and had been operating in the South China Sea, changed course more than a week ago and entered the Indian Ocean on January 26, US Central Command confirmed on January 27. The vessel is in the Gulf of Oman. President Donald Trump said a US "armada" is heading towards the region. "We're watching Iran. We have a big force going towards Iran," Trump told reporters on January 23. "Maybe we won't have to use it. We have a lot of ships going that direction."

The carrier strike group includes at least three Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers equipped with Tomahawk cruise missiles capable of striking targets deep inside Iran. The destroyers USS Spruance, USS Frank E. Petersen Jr and USS Michael Murphy are known to be part of the formation, which also typically includes between 6,000 and 7,000 sailors and marines.