Iran said it was prepared to escalate the war by using new weapons and expanding the scope of the conflict if the US launches a new major attack on the Islamic Republic.

“If a new aggression occurs, we will certainly change the weaponry and the geography of the war,” IRGC spokesman Hossein Mohebbi said on Sunday. Iran issued the warning as President Donald Trump is considering escalating the conflict. 

According to Fox News’s Trey Yingst, Trump said he was in “deciding mode” and that “very big things are going to be happening in the not-so-distant future.” “My question is, if and when do I blow the entire nation up? They better behave,” he said, quoting Trump. 

Mohebbi said the IRGC “has prepared itself for a long-term war” and is now “more prepared than before.” He went on to claim the US had suffered a “historical and disgraceful defeat,” adding “America has not lost a war; America has lost a system.”

Mohebbi referenced the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran has severely restricted international shipping since the war began. Washington has employed a number of strategies to wrestle control of the Strait from Tehran, but oil flows through the crucial waterway remain well below pre-war levels. 

On Monday, a tanker was struck by an unknown projectile after it entered the Strait. 

The IRGC spokesman argued that the conflict has proven that American bases and intelligence facilities in the region are vulnerable to Iranian attacks. In August, NBC News reported that multiple US officials have revealed Iran had caused “unprecedented damage” to US intelligence gathering facilities across the Middle East. 

“Iranian missile and drone attacks have inflicted damage on US intelligence posts and surveillance hardware in the [region] that is more extensive than any destruction [US] spy agencies have endured,” the outlet explained, adding that the damage will “cost billions of dollars to repair.”

In June, the BBC reported that satellite imagery and videos showed damage to at least 20 US military sites across the region.