Iran could target U.S. military bases beyond the Middle East, including facilities in Europe, if they are used to launch attacks against the country, Iranian security chief Mohsen Rezaei warned, signaling a potential widening of the conflict.
"If American aircraft take off from an American military base, even one located in a European country or some other distant region, to bomb Iran, we will strike those bases as well," Rezaei told Lebanon-based Al Mayadeen TV in an interview broadcast on Wednesday.
He also said that Iran's response to renewed U.S. attacks would "target America's more distant military installations – including the ones we have not yet attacked," without specifying.
"We may even strike certain islands that they assume are beyond the reach of our missiles," he added during the interview, which was conducted in Tehran.
The Middle East war broke out on Feb. 28 with U.S.-Israeli strikes that killed Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Iran responded by launching missiles and drones at countries across the region, while the groups it backs in Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq also entered the fray.
Diplomatic efforts led by Qatar and Pakistan have been underway to negotiate an end to the war.
Tehran insists that Washington accept a raft of demands including unfreezing assets and lifting sanctions in return for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, the vital energy conduit it has blockaded since the start of the conflict.
The U.S. and Israel have repeatedly cited Iran's nuclear program as part of their justification for the war, but Rezaei said the nuclear issue was "not currently" part of the talks and that Tehran had already established red lines, including that it would "not send even a tiny amount of the enriched material outside Iran".
On Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said there was no need to attack Iran again, citing what he described as successful efforts to undermine its economy.
Washington has appeared to taper down recent threats of renewed strikes after the defeat of President Donald Trump's Republican Party in recent midterm elections, in part due to the unpopularity of the war on Iran.
