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Iranian officials have warned in private conversations with regional officials that Tehran could launch ground incursions into neighboring countries, strike Saudi oil facilities and target U.S. warships if attacked again, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported, citing people familiar with the warnings.
Iran is also fortifying nuclear sites and border areas, rebuilding its missile and drone capabilities and rallying its population for a possible return to war, as it prepares for potential U.S. strikes after the Nov. 3 midterm elections.
Seven months into the war, neither side appears ready to back down, and Tehran's threats signal it could widen the conflict to Gulf states and U.S. forces if U.S. President Donald Trump resumes major strikes.
Iran has told mediators it would more aggressively target U.S. personnel, including by trying to sink U.S. warships in the Middle East and kill their crews, according to people familiar with the warnings.
Tehran separately warned Arab officials that it could strike regional targets including Saudi oil facilities, some of the people said.
Some Iranian officials have hinted their forces could conduct land incursions into neighboring countries.
Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said Sunday that Tehran could target the United Arab Emirates and regional data centers and internet cables if attacked again.
Iranian missiles came close to U.S. warships during attacks in September. Iran also opened an armed training site for civilians in Tehran on Oct. 3, as part of a voluntary program launched to encourage participation in "national defense."
Satellite images show Iran strengthening sensitive locations, including nuclear sites and border areas. Last month, it built makeshift dirt mounds around its Pickaxe Mountain and Natanz nuclear sites to impede any raid by ground forces, according to Vantor satellite images analyzed by the Institute for Science and International Security. The institute also reported that satellite imagery from September and October 2026 shows significant renewed activity at Minzadayi, a nuclear weapons development compound northeast of Tehran.
Iran has used a pause in major U.S. strikes since late July to rebuild missile and drone facilities and replenish its arsenal.
Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei praised the work in early September but acknowledged supply-chain struggles, according to outlets linked to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The country’s airports, seaports and power plants "have prepared for wartime conditions," Brig. Gen. Gholamreza Jalali, the official in charge of contingency plans, said at the end of September.
Billboards in Tehran advertise civilian training courses in shoulder-fired antiaircraft missiles and sniper rifles, and the IRGC said it trained its first female commando units. In the northeastern city of Sabzevar, a Guard unit told kindergartners stories about the fighting and displayed a U.S. Tomahawk missile it said it had neutralized.
State media broadcast daily pro-government gatherings, and residents say the crowds have grown. A hard-line cleric told the Journal he expected the war to restart and Iran to win, saying diplomacy had not worked.
"The war footing is serving them well for now due to an impasse on many fronts, diplomatically, economically and politically," said Sanam Vakil, Middle East director at Chatham House, who spoke to the WSJ.
"With a new war, the Islamic Republic could dig itself out of the cul-de-sac it has dug for itself," she added.
"In both word and deed, the Islamic Republic is actively preparing for the next war," said Behnam Ben Taleblu of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), a think tank described as pro-Israel, who spoke to WSJ. "In this sense the regime’s measures constitute both deterrence and war planning."
A third U.S. aircraft carrier strike group and another Marine expeditionary unit are heading to the Middle East, and the Pentagon is weighing sending more air defenses and munitions to regional bases.
Trump has ruled out an attack before the midterms but has publicly mulled hitting the Pickaxe Mountain site.
At least three commercial vessels were hit in and around the Strait of Hormuz over the weekend, according to the U.K. Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency, and a drone attack set fire to the Emirati tanker Petro Dolphin near Oman on Sunday, leaving two Indian sailors missing, as Iran warns of a wider war.
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