An adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, has warned that Tehran may expand the Middle East war to the Indian Ocean if the United States launches another attack.
Yahya Rahim Safavi gave the warning on Thursday in a video released by Iran’s Fars news agency.
“Since the conflict has spread from the Persian Gulf and 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,” Safavi said.
Yemen’s Houthis, who are fighting Saudi-backed government forces, recently took control of parts of the Red Sea coastline, strengthening their grip on the strategic Bab al-Mandab Strait, which connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and provides a key maritime route between Asia and Europe via the Suez Canal.
Iran has long provided military support to the Houthis but has denied direct involvement in the Yemen conflict.
The Islamic Republic has also shut down the Strait of Hormuz off its southern coast in retaliation for US-Israeli strikes that triggered the Middle East war at the end of February.
Iran and the United States are now vying for control of the strategic waterway, through which a significant share of the world’s oil and gas previously passed before the conflict.
Iranian officials had earlier threatened to widen the geographic scope of the conflict if US strikes resumed. However, Thursday’s warning marked the first time an adviser to the Supreme Leader explicitly mentioned the Indian Ocean, which is home to the strategic US-British military base at Diego Garcia, nearly 4,000 kilometres from Iran.
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Officials from Iran and the United States held talks in New York this week on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in another effort to end the conflict.
Iran has set conditions for ending the war, including the lifting of sanctions targeting its economy and the unconditional release of its frozen assets abroad.
In an exclusive interview with AFP on Tuesday, a spokesman for Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, Hossein Mohebi, also mentioned ending the war in Yemen.