A senior military adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei, said on Monday that continued fighting with the United States could push the war front as far as the Indian Ocean, the clearest public signal yet that Tehran is willing to talk about geography well beyond the Strait of Hormuz.
From Hormuz to open ocean
Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi, a former Revolutionary Guard commander who now advises the leadership, said in footage carried by the IRGC-linked Fars news agency that linking pressure at Hormuz with action at Bab el-Mandeb would “change the battlefield,” according to Iran International’s review of the remarks. He added that the front could expand further, “reaching the Indian Ocean and perhaps beyond,” if hostilities resume.
The comments land days after Washington rejected a seven-day Iranian roadmap to end the war and reopen Hormuz, leaving diplomats to argue over sequencing: Tehran wants relief from the U.S. naval blockade before it gives up control over the chokepoint, while the Trump administration has insisted the waterway must flow on acceptable terms first.
Parallel warnings at sea
On the same day, Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari, a deputy coordinator for Iran’s army, told state media that Iranian sailors were “acting with authority” in the northern Arabian Sea and east of Hormuz and would “not let anyone pass,” while Revolutionary Guard units hold the Persian Gulf and the western approach to the strait. Armed forces spokesman Brigadier General Abolfazl Shekarchi warned that the United States would be “slapped” if it intervened at Hormuz, according to Iran International.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Sunday that Iran remained open to “real diplomacy” but was prepared for an “apocalyptic war” if the U.S. attacked again, Al Jazeera reported. President Donald Trump told reporters he still expected more talks with Iran this week and claimed Washington would win the conflict “very soon,” even as tanker traffic through Hormuz remains thin and insurers treat the corridor as a war zone.
What commanders are signalling
Analysts who track Iranian messaging say Safavi’s Indian Ocean reference is less an order of battle than a deterrent: it points to Diego Garcia and other distant bases without claiming current operations there. Combined with repeated Guard threats against regional airports and Sayyari’s split description of army versus Guard zones, the statements read as a bid to keep the U.S. guessing about where the next exchange could occur if mediation fails.
Iran’s General Staff said Trump used the United Nations podium to justify strikes and said Iran was ready to deliver “stronger, crushing and unpredictable blows” if attacks resume, according to Iran International’s earlier reporting on leadership statements. Mediators are still waiting for a formal U.S. answer to Tehran’s latest Hormuz proposal after an initial reaction from Trump, Araghchi said.
What happens next
Shipping lines and Gulf capitals will watch whether Safavi’s language is repeated by uniformed commanders with operational authority, or stays in the adviser tier. U.S. Central Command has not confirmed any new convoy escorts through the eastern strait, and European diplomats scheduled to meet this week have listed Hormuz reopening as a precondition for any sanctions relief package. Until one side moves on sequencing, the Indian Ocean rhetoric remains a warning—and the strait itself stays the immediate pressure point.