Guards threaten new targets if U.S. attacks
‘We will introduce new weapons with new capabilities into the battlefield.’
‘We will introduce new weapons with new capabilities into the battlefield.’
TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) — Iran’s Revolutionary Guards on Monday warned they would attack new targets and deploy new weapons if the United States launches further attacks on the country.
Almost seven months into their war, Tehran and Washington remain locked in a stalemate, though neither side appears willing to return to full-scale war.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, the ideological arm of Iran’s military, said “there will certainly be significant changes in our defense and our counteroffensive” in the event of a new US attack.
“We will introduce new weapons with new capabilities into the battlefield, and the world will be surprised,” he said.
“Our targets will not necessarily be the same as before either. We have new targets that have not yet been attacked.”
The Guards also said they were prepared for a “prolonged war”.
On Saturday, the central command of Iran’s military said the US was planning new action against Tehran, according to state television, but it did not elaborate.
Fighting between the US and Iran has eased in recent days after a flare-up at the end of last month, though Tehran continues sporadic attacks on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
Both sides are maintaining rival blockades in the waterway in an effort to exert pressure.
The war has spread to Yemen, with the country’s Iran-backed Houthis taking more territory from the Saudi-backed government and the group launching attacks on Saudi targets, including the capital Riyadh.
Meanwhile, two crew members were injured after an “unknown projectile” hit their tanker in the Strait of Hormuz Monday, a British maritime agency said, where vessels have come under repeated attack amid the Middle East war.
Tehran seeks to maintain a stranglehold on the waterway in its war with the United States. Washington has also kept up a counterblockade of Iranian ports.
