Iran Warns It Will Fire on US Warships as Trump Weighs Fresh Strikes

Iran's armed forces say they are ready to fire on United States warships, as President Donald Trump indicated that Washington has not settled on its next step in the conflict. Speaking to supporters at a rally in Florida on Friday, Trump said the US military "may do another Epic Fury", a reference to the large bombing campaign launched against Iran at the start of the war.

Trump had earlier raised the question of whether to end the fighting quickly with massive strikes or to let the naval blockade and sanctions keep squeezing Tehran. In response, Ali Abdollahi, chief of general staff of Iran's armed forces, said in a statement carried by state media on Saturday morning that the US Navy cannot re-enter Iranian territorial waters or their surroundings, because Iran can target any vessel in the region. "The US president can only dream of their soldiers and military again entering the Persian Gulf," he said.

Abdollahi also argued that American rhetoric is contradictory. In his telling, US claims that Iran's military capabilities have largely been destroyed are undercut by Washington's refusal to move its aircraft carriers and support ships closer to Iranian territory. He said Iranian forces intend to "drown" the US and Israel in a "quagmire" in return for their surprise attack on February 28, which began an eight-month war and unsettled the entire region.

Shipping around the Strait of Hormuz remains under attack, and the prospect of renewed war has pushed Brent crude to about $117, its highest level since April. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said seven tankers were attacked or hit mines overnight into Thursday, and on Friday claimed two supertankers struck mines. The IRGC says its doctrine has become more offensive. Washington has reportedly ordered many diplomatic staff to leave Saudi Arabia, with others due to leave additional countries in the region.

Other fronts are also active. The Iran-allied Houthis in Yemen struck Riyadh again on Saturday, after recent attacks on Dammam's international airport and the Shaybah oilfield, while Saudi forces have bombed Houthi-held areas including Marib and Taiz. In southern Lebanon, reported Israeli air strikes hit around Nabatieh and artillery fell near Zawtar ash-Sharqiyah. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces an election on October 27, ordered a lockdown of the occupied West Bank after a Palestinian attack killed two soldiers in Hebron.

Iranian state-linked media and analysts claim Tehran has activated a "dead hand" doctrine, which would allegedly let attacks on US, Israeli and regional interests continue from all 31 provinces if senior leaders are assassinated again. The IRGC has threatened seabed internet and communication cables if civilian infrastructure is targeted once more. Axios, citing US intelligence, reported on Saturday that Iran has "substantially increased" efforts to strike American officials in the Middle East and elsewhere.

On the diplomatic side, mediated talks between Tehran and Washington have produced no progress. On Friday, senior diplomats from Turkiye, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Egypt met counterparts from the UK, France, Germany and Italy in Istanbul, without the US or Iran present. Turkiye's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said a new attack on Iran "would widen the war and spread the conflict across the region", adding that "no one is endorsing it at this point." German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul blamed Iran and the Houthis for regional instability, while the four regional ministers said "Israeli occupation was the main source of instability." They backed the Islamabad memorandum of understanding signed in June and demanded unrestricted passage through Hormuz.

Nour News, which is affiliated with Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said the meeting showed a "gap between diplomatic claims and realities in the field" and argued the US and European powers must concede first. Iranian papers focused on the war's signs, with reformist Etemad suggesting the "zero hour" of another intense round was approaching. Analyst Reza Nasri wrote on X that Iran "will no longer negotiate under bombardment" and will end the cycle "by all necessary means".