Iran · updated 1h ago · 2 min read
Iran Adviser Yahya Rahim Safavi Warns US Or Israel Attack Could Reach Indian Ocean
Senior adviser Yahya Rahim Safavi warned US/Israel attacks could widen war to the Indian Ocean. Iran says its armed forces prepared contingency plans for widening conflict.
24 outlets told this the same way.
11 of 12 outlets skipped it: iran cancels flights to the UAE amid the escalation warning.
Al-Monitor was read line by line by the Watchdog: 3.7. See the score →
24outlets compared
Safavi flags Indian Ocean front
Maj. Gen. Yahya Rahim Safavi, an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, warned that a renewed US or Israeli attack could widen the conflict beyond the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb Strait to the Indian Ocean.
Safavi said, “If the Americans start a new war, a new front centered on the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait may open before their eyes,” in remarks carried by Iran’s Fars news agency.
Safavi added that the conflict’s geographic scope could widen further, “With the conflict now extending from the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz to the Red Sea, it is possible that this scope could widen — in response to a potential war — to the Indian Ocean, or perhaps even further,” according to the same Fars-broadcast remarks.
Iran’s warning came as the conflict had already extended from the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz to the Red Sea, and as the Houthis escalated drone and missile attacks on Saudi Arabia earlier this month, according to the report.
Plans for worst case
Safavi told reporters that Iranian forces had prepared plans for worst-case scenarios if the United States or Israel attacked Iran’s facilities or national interests again. Safavi said, “We do not know what is going on in the minds of (US President) Trump and (Israeli Premier) Netanyahu,” and he warned that further attacks would widen the conflict’s scope.
Safavi also framed the threat as a regional escalation, saying, “Now that the war has spread from the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz to the Red Sea, it is possible that, in response to more war, the front will expand even further, reaching the Indian Ocean and perhaps beyond,” in remarks carried by Iran’s Fars News Agency. The warning intersected with diplomatic contacts in New York, where the sources said Iranian and American officials held talks through intermediaries on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
Maritime chokepoints and markets
Iran’s threat tied the widening battlefield to maritime chokepoints, with Safavi warning that “I believe linking territorial waters and the Red Sea to the Strait of Hormuz and Bab al-Mandab will alter the battlefield.” Safavi also said, “If the Americans initiate a new war, a new front centered around the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab could open up before them,” in a video broadcast by Fars News Agency.
““I believe linking territorial waters and the Red Sea to the Strait of Hormuz and Bab al-Mandab will alter the battlefield.””
The warning fed directly into market expectations, with Brent futures jumping more than 3% to trade above $106 a barrel after the top Iranian military official said Tehran may broaden the war to the Indian Ocean if attacked, according to the report. The same report said Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told the United Nations meeting that Tehran is ready to resume talks about ending the near seven-month conflict, but added that Tehran won’t allow freedom of navigation through Hormuz while sanctions and a U.S. blockade remain in place.