Iran threatens to expand war with new weapons if US attacks resume

Iran threatened on Sunday to use new weapons to attack new targets in the region should the United States resume attacks against Tehran as the Middle East braces for an escalation of the conflict.

What happened: Spokesperson for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Brig. Gen. Hossein Mohibi said in a Sunday evening interview on Iran’s state-owned Al-Alam TV that if there is another US or Israeli invasion, “we will definitely change the war’s geography.”

“We will introduce new weapons with new capabilities into the battle, and the world will be surprised,” he said without elaborating. “We have new targets that have not been attacked yet.”

During the US-Israeli war on Iran that erupted on Feb. 28, Iran launched hundreds of drones and missiles at Israel and other countries in the region that host US military assets, including Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Jordan.

The IRGC resumed those attacks after the US military resumed its strikes against Iran in early September.

Mohibi did not name any countries to be targeted, but he said the IRGC has prepared for a prolonged war and would defend the country against any escalation.

On Monday, the General Staff of Iran’s Armed Forces vowed “more defeats” for the US, Israel and their allies, warning that an attack on Iran would trigger strikes on US bases and interests across the Middle East.

“We warn that if America makes any mistake against Iran, all its interests and bases in the region will be targeted by sustained, effective and painful attacks without any restrictions or considerations,” it said in a statement.

Why it matters: The Iranian threats come amid heightened tensions between Iran and the US. In a statement on Sunday, the US State Department warned American citizens across the Middle East of a possible escalation, urging “heightened vigilance” and preparation for potential flight cancellations, airspace closures and other travel disruptions.

US President Donald Trump cut short a weekend visit to the Camp David presidential retreat and returned to the White House on Sunday with no official explanation. In an interview with Fox News on Sunday, Trump said regarding Iran that some “very big things are going to be happening in the not-so-distant future” and added, “My question is: If and when I want to destroy the entire country, when do I do it? They had better change their behavior.”

Despite a memorandum of understanding reached between Iran and the US on June 18 to end the war on all fronts, tensions have remained high, with sporadic exchanges of fire between the two sides. Talks between the two parties have been deadlocked in disagreements over the management of the Strait of Hormuz, the critical waterway for global energy markets in the Gulf where attacks on commercial vessels continue.

British maritime security organization UKMTO reported on Monday that a projectile struck a tanker in the Strait of Hormuz, injuring two crew members. The report did not specify the source of the attack, but the chokepoint remains under Iran’s de facto closure since the start of the war amid a US naval blockade of Iranian ports and vessels in the region.

In his remarks on Sunday, Mohibi said the US has failed to reopen the Strait of Hormuz despite possessing the world's largest navy, claiming it has suffered “a historic and humiliating defeat in its war with Iran.”

Know more: The war has drawn the wider Middle East region, including the Gulf, into the conflict as Iran’s proxy groups, including Lebanese Hezbollah, joined the fighting in support of Tehran, launching repeated attacks toward Israel. This month, Yemen's Houthi group, also backed by Iran, escalated its drone and missile attacks on Saudi Arabia. The militia accused the kingdom of carrying out airstrikes at its positions in Yemen, where fighting with Saudi-aligned government forces has been ongoing since the Houthis launched a large-scale military operation along Yemen's Red Sea coast on Sept. 4. 

While Iran has said that the Houthis act independently, Pakistan, which helped broker the interim agreement between Iran and the US, has reportedly conveyed a Saudi warning to Tehran to rein in its Yemeni allies, according to a Friday report by the Financial Times. 

On Monday, Pakistani Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and his Iranian counterpart, Eskandar Momeni, spoke in Tehran about bilateral ties and ways to advance agreements between the countries. Before the trip, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei rejected reports that Naqvi would bring a specific proposal from the US, saying his visit will focus on expanding bilateral relations and coordination.

Pakistan, Turkey and Saudi Arabia signed a mutual defense pact on Aug. 7 that commits the three countries to treating an armed attack against one as an attack against all. But despite the escalating attacks in Saudi Arabia by the Houthis, Pakistan and Turkey have refrained from sending forces into the conflict.

The Houthis have also been attacking Saudi tankers in the Red Sea after imposing a blockade on the kingdom's western ports in July. Acting Foreign Minister Abdulwahid Abu Ras told Al-Monitor’s Adam Lucente in an exclusive interview last week that the group has no intention of closing the southern Red Sea and is open to talks, but did not provide specifics on who they’d be willing to meet with.

Five unnamed sources told Reuters last Wednesday that US officials met with representatives of Yemen’s Houthis at the US Embassy in Oman’s capital, Muscat, last weekend.

According to the sources, the Houthis informed the US side during the meeting that they do not plan to attack US vessels in the Red Sea and are committed to the 2025 ceasefire.