Iran threatens to strike beyond the Middle East if the US resumes attacks

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard warned Wednesday that any new attack on the country would provoke them to spread the war beyond the Middle East, raising the stakes of diplomatic efforts to end the conflict.

Read more Democrats try to defeat candidate expressing antisemitic views in Texas runoff for US House

In a statement reported by Iranian state media, the Revolutionary Guard, a powerful military force that answers directly to the country’s supreme leader, said that if “aggression against Iran is repeated,” it would deliver blows “in places you cannot even imagine.”

President Trump said this week that he had postponed a “very major attack” against Iran after the leaders of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar had asked for more time to pursue an agreement over Iran’s nuclear program. There was a “very good chance” that a deal could be reached, he said, but he was vague when asked how long Iran had to return to the negotiating table, saying only “a limited period of time.”

The dueling messages underscore the fragile state of diplomacy between the two countries, and the Guard’s threat echoed growing fears in Washington that Iran or allied groups could seek to strike Western interests outside the Middle East.

A criminal complaint unsealed in the United States last week accused an Iraqi man — described as a senior commander in Kataib Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militia in Iraq — of helping to plan attacks in the United States, Europe, and Canada since the start of the war.

Negotiations to end the conflict have stalled over the fate of Iran’s nuclear program and the Strait of Hormuz, a critical transit point for oil and gas. Iran has effectively closed the waterway, while the United States has imposed its own blockade on Iran-linked shipping, throttling maritime traffic and rattling global energy markets.

On Monday, the US military seized an empty Iran-linked oil tanker in the Indian Ocean, according to a US official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss operational matters. The Pentagon declined to comment.

It was at least the third Iran-linked tanker that the United States has detained since the war began in late February.

The Guard said Wednesday that 26 vessels, including “oil tankers, container ships, and other commercial ships,” had passed through the strait over the past 24 hours “under the coordination and security protection” of the Iranian navy. That claim could not be independently verified.

South Korea’s foreign minister, Cho Hyun, said Wednesday that a South Korean oil tanker was transiting the strait following consultations with Iranian authorities.

The standoff over control of the crucial shipping lane has strained a monthlong ceasefire that mediators are scrambling to keep alive. Pakistan has been involved in those efforts, and its interior minister, Mohsin Naqvi, arrived in Tehran, the Iranian capital, on Wednesday for his second visit to the country in a week, according to IRIB, Iran’s state broadcaster.

Read more Markey, Moulton agree to August debate in US Senate primary fight

In recent days, Trump and Vice President JD Vance have both talked up the possibility of a deal, even as Washington and Iran have continued to trade threats.

Vance said at a White House briefing Tuesday that “a lot of progress” was being made in the talks, adding that Washington believed “the Iranians want to make a deal.” But Iran’s latest proposal appeared to include demands that Washington has previously rejected, such as reparations for war damage and guarantees for Iran’s right to enrich uranium.

“There’s an option B, and the option B is that we could restart the military campaign,” Vance told reporters. “But that’s not what the president wants, and I don’t think it’s what the Iranians want either.”

Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, said Wednesday that the kingdom “highly appreciates” Trump’s decision to “give diplomacy a chance to reach an acceptable agreement to end the war.”

“Saudi Arabia looks forward to Iran seizing the opportunity to avoid the dangerous implications of escalation,” he said on social media.

Despite being left battered by months of strikes, there are concerns among US military officials that Iran still remains a resilient adversary able to impose heavy costs on the wider region and the global economy.

If Iran were attacked again, analysts said, it could seek to exert control over the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, a narrow waterway linking the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden through which about a 10th of global maritime trade passes. The strait runs alongside territory in Yemen held by the Houthis, an Iran-backed militia that has previously fired on ships traversing the Red Sea.

Iran could also intensify its attacks on the Gulf Arab states and their energy infrastructure. Striking Gulf oil fields, refineries, and ports has been one of the most potent ways for Iran to inflict pain on the global economy and put pressure on Trump.

“The threat of Iranian retaliation against major oil producers remains one of the very few factors restraining US behavior toward Iran,” said Ali Alfoneh, a senior fellow at the Arab Gulf States Institute, a Washington-based think tank.

Read more Republicans mull dropping $1 billion security money request for the White House and Trump’s ballroom

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.