Iran's Revolutionary Guards warned Wednesday that the war in the Middle East will spread beyond the region if the United States and Israel resume attacks on Iran.
"If the aggression against Iran is repeated, the promised regional war will this time spread far beyond the region, and our devastating blows will crush you," the Guards said in a statement on their website Sepah News.
The warning comes after U.S. President Donald Trump said Washington could strike Iran again if no deal on a lasting settlement is reached in the coming days.
The two sides have escalated their threats while swapping proposals to end the war, which broke out on Feb. 28. A cease-fire has been in place since April 8.
"The American-Zionist enemy... must know that despite the offensive carried out against us using the full capabilities of the world's two most expensive armies, we have not deployed the full power of the Islamic revolution," the Guards said.
Six weeks since Trump paused Operation Epic Fury for a truce, talks to end the war have largely stalled.
Iran submitted a new offer to the United States this week, but its public accounts of it repeat terms previously rejected by Trump, including demands for control of the Strait of Hormuz, compensation for war damage, lifting of sanctions, release of frozen assets and the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the area.
Trump said Monday and again Tuesday, that he had come close to ordering a new bombing campaign but had put it off at the last minute to give more time for diplomacy.
"I was an hour away from making the decision to go today," Trump told reporters at the White House Tuesday.
Iran has repeatedly threatened to retaliate for any new attacks by striking countries in the Middle East that house U.S. bases.
In the latest diplomacy, however, Iran's Tasnim news agency reported that Pakistan's interior minister had arrived in Tehran. Pakistan hosted the only round of peace talks last month and has been conveying messages between the sides.
Iran has largely shut the Strait of Hormuz to all ships apart from its own since the U.S.-Israeli campaign began in February, causing the biggest disruption to global energy supplies in history. The United States responded last month with its own blockade of Iran's ports.
Iran says it aims to reopen the strait to friendly countries that abide by its terms to use it. That could potentially include fees for access, which Washington says would be unacceptable.
Two giant Chinese tankers laden with a total of around 4 million barrels of oil exited the strait Wednesday. Iran had announced last week, while Trump was in Beijing for a summit, that it had reached an agreement to ease rules for Chinese ships.
South Korea's foreign minister said Wednesday that a Korean tanker was crossing the strait in cooperation with Iran.
Shipping monitor Lloyd's List said at least 54 ships had transited the strait last week, around double the number from the week before. But that is still only a tiny fraction of the 140 or so each day that typically crossed before the war.
Bloomberg reported that India was preparing to send empty tankers through the strait into the Gulf to load up on oil for the first time since the war began.
Three Indian government sources told Reuters this was more of a hope for the future, with efforts still focused mainly on securing transit in the opposite direction: a way out for ships trapped in the Gulf.
Trump is under pressure to end the war, with soaring energy prices hurting his Republican Party ahead of congressional elections in November. Since the cease-fire, his public comments have veered from threats to restart bombing to declarations that a peace deal was at hand.
Despite saying he had come close to restarting the war Tuesday he also said negotiations were going well and it would be over "very quickly."
Vice President JD Vance, who led the U.S. delegation at last month's sole round of peace talks, also talked up progress, saying, "We're in a pretty good spot here."
The fluctuating U.S. stances have sent oil prices bouncing from hour to hour and day to day, though on a clear upward trend week by week. Benchmark one-month Brent crude futures eased about 2.75% Wednesday morning to near $108 a barrel.
"Investors are keen to gauge whether Washington and Tehran can actually find common ground and reach a peace agreement, with the U.S. stance shifting daily," said Toshitaka Tazawa, an analyst at Fujitomi Securities.
The U.S.-Israeli bombing killed thousands of people in Iran before it was suspended in a cease-fire in early April. Israel has also killed thousands more and driven hundreds of thousands from their homes in Lebanon, which it invaded in the name of tackling the Iran-backed Hezbollah armed group. Iranian strikes on Israel and neighbouring Gulf states have killed dozens of people.
The Iran cease-fire has mostly held, though there was a spike in attacks on shipping and on Gulf states in early May when Trump announced a naval mission to reopen the strait, only to call it off after just 48 hours.
This week saw a new volley of drones launched at Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which said they came from Iraq, where groups allied to Iran operate. Jordan reported shooting down a drone Wednesday.
Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said when they launched the war that they aimed to curb Iran's support for regional militias, dismantle its nuclear program, destroy its missile capabilities and make it easier for Iranians to topple their rulers.
But Iran has so far retained its stockpile of near-weapons-grade enriched uranium, and its ability to threaten neighbours with missiles, drones and proxy militias.
Its clerical rulers, who tackled a mass uprising at the start of the year, have faced no sign of organised opposition since the war began.
