An Iranian army spokesperson warned Wednesday that any "possible future war" with the U.S. could spread across the region and hit energy and communications infrastructure.
Brig. Gen. Mohammad Akraminia told the semi-official Mehr News Agency that Iran had previously warned that any "miscalculation" by its adversaries would draw an immediate response and could expand the geographical scope of the conflict.
"A possible future war could encompass new arenas," Akraminia said.
He pointed to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and a U.S. base in Syria, saying both had become part of the conflict despite previously being outside its geographical scope.
"Today, threats exist across the entire region and we have the capabilities to confront and deal with them," he said.
Akraminia said a possible future war could also involve new areas of confrontation, including energy and communications infrastructure across the region.
He specifically cited energy infrastructure and communications links that largely run along the seabed in waters off Iran and the Arabian Peninsula and through the Gulf of Oman.
"Wherever the enemy has interests, in the event of aggression, they could fall within the framework of legitimate targets of the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran," he said.
Akraminia also urged Qatar to step up efforts to determine the fate of three Iranian pilots missing since an Iranian air operation against a U.S. base in Qatar on March 2.
He said two Iranian Sukhoi aircraft struck the base before being shot down on their return flight. The body of one of the four pilots, Majid Kazemi, was later recovered, while the other three remain missing.
Qatar has denied holding the three pilots, saying its search-and-rescue teams recovered the remains of one pilot but found no evidence that the others were captured.
The remarks come against the backdrop of the conflict between Iran and the U.S., which began on Feb. 28 with U.S. and Israeli military strikes on Iran and subsequently expanded across the region as Tehran retaliated against U.S. military positions.
The hostilities later drew in several regional fronts and disrupted maritime traffic, while Iran and the U.S. eventually signed a memorandum of understanding on June 18 through Qatari and Pakistani mediation aimed at ending the fighting and setting the stage for negotiations.
Tehran has since accused Washington of failing to fully implement the memorandum, while Qatar and Pakistan have continued diplomatic efforts between the two sides.
