Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) warned on Wednesday that any renewed US or Israeli strikes on the country would lead to a broadening of the war beyond the Mideast Gulf region.
"If the aggression against Iran is repeated, the regional war that was promised will extend beyond the region this time, and our crushing blows will land you… in places you cannot imagine," the IRGC said.
The threat comes in response to incendiary rhetoric aimed at Iran's leadership, even as diplomacy has been taking place since a ceasefire was agreed in early April.
US president Donald Trump said on Monday that "serious negotiations are now taking place" but warned Tehran, again, that "the clock is ticking" and that Iran had "better get moving, FAST, or there won't be anything left of them."
Trump also said he was ready to carry out a new attack on Iran on Tuesday, but decided to postpone it after an intervention from the leaders of Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
Around six weeks of intense US and Israeli bombing targeting key officials, facilities and infrastructure linked to Iran's leadership, military and energy caused significant damage, but largely failed to weaken the regime's grip on power.
The strikes also prompted Tehran and the Iranian armed forces to effectively close the strait of Hormuz, which has dramatically disrupted the movement of commercial vessels through the key waterway ꟷ including crude, oil products and LNG tankers.
This in turn forced several Mideast Gulf countries that depended heavily on the strait to export oil and LNG to shut-in meaningful amounts of production, putting upward pressure on commodity prices.
Front-month Ice Brent futures are hovering above $110/bl, more than 50pc up from before the US and Israel launched their initial salvo on Iran on 28 February.
These new threats show Washington and Tel Aviv "have not learned from the major and strategic defeats" of the past few weeks, the IRGC said, warning that Iranian retaliation for any new strikes would be more widespread and more intense.
While the US and Israel "attacked us with all their capabilities [in the initial phase of the war]… we did not use all of our capabilities," the IRGC said.
Trump said on Tuesday he had put off a "major attack for a little while… hopefully forever," after the Mideast Gulf leaders told him they felt "they are very close to making a deal [with Iran]."
"If we can do that where there is no nuclear weapon going into the hands of Iran, and if [the Mideast Gulf countries] are satisfied, we will probably be satisfied also," Trump said.
Iranian state broadcaster IRIB said on Wednesday that Pakistan's interior minister had arrived in Tehran for talks with unnamed Iranian officials. Pakistan has been acting as the primary mediator between Iran and the US, and hosted a first round of talks between the sides in Islamabad in April.
