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An adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, has warned that Tehran could expand the ongoing Middle East conflict to the Indian Ocean if the United States launches further attacks.

Yahya Rahim Safavi, a senior adviser to the Iranian leader, issued 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.

The warning comes amid heightened tensions around strategic waterways in the region.

Yemen’s Houthis, who are fighting Saudi-backed government forces, recently took control of the Red Sea coastline, strengthening their hold around the strategic Bab al-Mandab Strait, which connects Asia and Europe through the Suez Canal.

Iran has long provided military support to the Houthis but has denied any direct involvement in the Yemen conflict.

The Islamic Republic has also closed the Strait of Hormuz, off its southern coast, in retaliation for US-Israeli strikes that triggered the current Middle East war at the end of February.

Iran and the United States are now contesting control of the strategic waterway, through which a substantial portion of the world’s oil and gas supplies passed before the conflict began.

Iranian officials had previously warned that the geographic scope of the conflict could be widened if US strikes against Tehran resumed.

However, Thursday’s statement is the first time an adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader has explicitly mentioned the Indian Ocean as a potential new theatre of the conflict.

The Indian Ocean is home to the strategic US-British military base at Diego Garcia, located nearly 4,000 kilometres from Iran.

Meanwhile, Iranian and US officials held talks in New York this week on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly as part of efforts to bring the conflict to an end.

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Iran has said it is reviewing US response to its proposal to end war.

A senior Iranian official told Reuters that Tehran is reviewing the United States’ response to its proposal to end hostilities, but many differences remain between the Iranian and U.S. positions as diplomacy continues.

Reopening the Strait of Hormuz and lifting the U.S. naval blockade on Iran were discussed during indirect talks with the U.S. Tuesday, the official said.

Tehran previously said it could reopen the Strait of Hormuz within a week if the U.S. eased military pressure and lifted its blockade of Iranian ports.

Iran’s chief national security advisor Mohsen Rezaee wrote in a post the country is tiring of negotiations.

“Iran’s new diplomacy will not return to the past. We will force America to respect the rights of the Iranian nation and act according to the conveyed conditions; otherwise, the Strait of Hormuz will not be opened,” he wrote. “Enough with negotiations, take action.”

Iranian spokespeople say Iran and the U.S. met for two hours of mediated discussion during the United Nations General Assembly.

During the discussion, Iran repeated its conditions for opening the Strait of Hormuz.

The U.S. Army announced the death of an active-duty servicemember Wednesday who was supporting overseas operations in Qatar.

Capt. Bianca C. Wilkerson, 37, of Virginia, died on Sept. 18 as a result of a noncombat-related incident, according to a release. She was posthumously promoted to major.

The incident is under investigation.

U.S. representatives left the room as Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian addressed the United Nations General Assembly Wednesday.

“Yesterday, the United States President described us as terrorists. We have been the victims of terrorism,” Pezeshkian said. “Those who are terrorists and train and protect terrorists describe us as such.”

He says America has hit civilian populations and neighborhoods, including schools, and argued Iran has only defended itself. He compared America and Israel’s war with Iran to Israel’s actions in Gaza, calling for justice for Palestine.

“In Gaza, over 80,000 innocent civilians have been murdered, brutally murdered. They are committing genocide, then they label others as terrorists. We only seek to live independently,” he said. “We cannot speak of peace while ignoring Palestine. Lasting peace in West Asia is impossible without justice for Palestine.”

He said the bombing of Iranian cities will not go unanswered.

Trump tells NewsNation ‘we’ll see’ on whether to ‘annihilate’ Iran

Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said he warned the EU of “severe long-term consequences of facilitating and supporting Israeli-U.S. war crimes” in Gaza and Iran.

“That major folly aside, [NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte] should know by now that groveling never satisfies a bully,” he wrote in a post.

Iran spokesperson accuses Trump of ‘war crime’; Trump threatens to ‘annihilate’ country during UN speech

Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei accused Trump of an “unforgivable war crime” associated with Iranian schoolchildren who he says were killed in a Feb. 28 missile attack by American forces.

“They should have been here today, bright-eyed and joyful, celebrating the start of a new school year. Instead their slain bodies lie buried in the earth,” Baqaei wrote in a post with a video of the children. “The Iranian people will never forget these angelic faces. They will never forgive their killers.”

He criticised Trump’s speech at the UN General Assembly, during which the president said he was weighing whether to “annihilate” Iran if Tehran doesn’t agree to a deal, despite ongoing talks.

“The government whose president mockingly flouts international law from the UN podium bears responsibility for this unforgivable war crime. All who stood silent and looked away share in that responsibility,” Baqaei wrote.

Iran’s armed forces have dismissed Trump’s comments as propaganda and said the country is prepared to deliver “more severe, crushing and unpredictable blows” if attacked.

Two casualties in Strait of Hormuz cargo vessel strike: UKMTO

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations UKMTO says a cargo vessel was struck by an “unknown projectile” in the Strait of Hormuz Wednesday, “leaving it on fire and adrift.” Authorities are investigating.

All crew were evacuated and two casualties were reported.

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Iran’s president struck a defiant tone at the UN on Wednesday, where he spoke for the first time since Washington and Israel launched an all-out war on his country, vowing Tehran would never “bend at the knee.”

Masoud Pezeshkian accused Washington of “terrorism” for assassinating former supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at the start of the war.

He held up a photograph of the dead leader before insisting Tehran had never started a war.

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump had told the UN he was weighing whether to “annihilate” Iran, but went on to hail renewed talks between Tehran and Washington’s negotiators.

Pezeshkian did not refer to the talks to resolve the stalled war in his steely speech.

“(Trump) must know that the resistance of the Iranian people will only increase in the face of sanctions, increased pressure, increased bullying. We will never bow our head or bend at the knee,” he said.

Pezeshkian insisted that Tehran would not allow the Strait of Hormuz, which it has been intermittently blockaded since the start of the war, causing global energy prices to spike, to be used for aggression against his country.

“We cannot let some have free access and bolster their interests from the waterway, while at the same time using that waterway to impose their aggression upon us,” he said.

Soaring fuel prices threaten to cost Trump’s Republicans their control of Congress in November’s midterms.

Pezeshkian’s attendance at the UN’s signature diplomatic event, in the heart of Manhattan, had been in doubt as it was unclear if the United States would issue a visa.

Ultimately, Washington granted the permit, but denied visas to several members of Pezeshkian’s entourage.