From Hormuz to Indian Ocean, Iran warns of wider front if US strikes again

New Delhi: Iran in latest warning has said a renewed military confrontation with United States and Israel could push the conflict into a much wider maritime battlefront, with the Indian Ocean emerging as a possible new area of operations. Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi, a senior military adviser to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei, said Tehran has prepared “plans for the worst-case scenarios” if fighting resumes.

In remarks carried by Iran’s semi-official Fars News Agency, Safavi said Iranian authorities could not know what the United States president, Donald Trump, and Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, were planning. He said the country’s armed forces had nevertheless prepared contingency plans for the possibility of attacks on Iranian national centres and interests.

Safavi said the geography of a future confrontation would not necessarily remain limited to Iran’s immediate surroundings. He pointed to the Persian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz, Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab as interconnected strategic areas and said a renewed war could bring the Indian Ocean into the conflict.

The Iranian adviser also warned that the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab could become the centre of a new front if Washington launched another military strike. He referred to Yemen’s long history of resisting foreign intervention and said Ansar Allah had developed its own objectives, strategy and weapons-production capabilities.

Safavi separately said Iran was keeping track of US military deployments across the region. He claimed that Iranian radar systems were capable of detecting American naval vessels operating in the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean and determining their positions, adding that Tehran was also monitoring US aircraft and other forces.

The warning comes as the Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian, said Tehran remained open to diplomacy despite the confrontation with Washington. Addressing the UN general assembly on Wednesday, Pezeshkian said Iran would not surrender to US pressure but maintained that the conflict could still be resolved through negotiations, RNA Media reported.

The Strait of Hormuz remains in spotlight between Tehran and Washington. Iran said the waterway could not be reopened through American military pressure and claimed that Iran and Oman could work out a mechanism for reopening it, while Tehran has linked the move to the removal of US military pressure and acceptance of Iranian conditions.

The military warnings come alongside continuing diplomatic contacts aimed at preventing another escalation. The Pakistani foreign minister, Ishaq Dar, met Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, in New York on the sidelines of the UN general assembly, with the two sides discussing bilateral ties and regional and international developments.

Pakistan has continued to offer itself as a channel between Tehran and Washington, with the Pakistani prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, saying they remains committed to efforts to reduce tensions. The diplomatic push is taking place against a backdrop of continuing disputes over the Strait of Hormuz and wider maritime security, while Iranian officials publicly warn that any renewed fighting could take the conflict into new regions.