Iran warns new US conflict could spread to Indian Ocean

Maj. Gen. Yahya Rahim Safavi, senior military adviser to Iran's supreme leader, warned on Thursday that a potential new war with the United States could spread as far as the Indian Ocean if Tehran comes under renewed attack. Speaking to Fars News Agency, Safavi said the country's armed forces had prepared detailed plans for a range of scenarios involving possible American or Israeli aggression.

“We do not know what is going on in the minds of (US President) Trump and (Israeli Premier) Netanyahu,” Safavi said. He noted that Iranian forces had prepared for the worst-case scenarios in the event of further US or Israeli attacks on the country’s facilities or national interests, adding that such an event would inevitably widen the scope of hostilities.

Conflict zone widens from Hormuz

Safavi pointed to the current expansion of hostilities from the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz to the Red Sea as evidence that the conflict zone continues to grow. “Now that the war has spread from the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz to the Red Sea, it is possible that, in the next stage of a potential war with the US, this front could expand further, to the Indian Ocean or elsewhere,” he said.

The warning comes as hostilities have already disrupted maritime traffic through the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea, squeezing international shipping lanes and energy supplies. Iranian officials have repeatedly stated that any new attacks on the country’s facilities would trigger a significantly broader regional response.