A new round of US attacks on Iran could see the conflict expand as far as the Indian Ocean, a senior military adviser to Iran's supreme leader warned on Thursday, amid renewed threats by US president Donald Trump to "annihilate" the country if diplomacy fails.
"Our armed forces are wisely planning for multiple scenarios," said Major General Yahya Safavi, including a new round of US or Israeli attacks on Iranian territory.
"So far, the war has spread from the [Mideast] Gulf and strait of Hormuz to the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb," Safavi said. "If there is a new phase, our response could expand [the conflict] even further. It could extend to the Indian Ocean, and perhaps other areas."
He claimed Iranian intelligence has full visibility of US military movements in the region, spanning from the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea and Indian Ocean.
Safavi's comments came less than two days after Trump issued a fresh threat against Iran's leadership while in New York for the UN General Assembly.
"I have a big decision to make," Trump said. "Will a deal be made with Iran... or do I annihilate the Islamic Republic, and do it quickly, never giving them a chance to kill and destroy people and countries again."
The rhetoric comes despite renewed attempts by the two sides to restart negotiations aimed at ending the almost seven-month war, reopening the strait of Hormuz to commercial shipping, and securing a deal on Iran's nuclear programme.
Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner and special envoy Steve Witkoff met indirectly with Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araghchi through a Qatari mediator in New York on Tuesday.
Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baqaei said Tehran had made clear its conditions for a return to diplomacy in its latest exchanges with Washington.
These included "an end to US aggression", the lifting of the US naval blockade and sanctions on Iran, the release of Iranian frozen funds, and agreement on a framework for safe passage through the strait of Hormuz, to be determined by its two coastal states, Iran and Oman.
Witkoff separately said he hoped the meeting would prove "constructive and promising".
