Iran threatens to widen scope of war with US as Trump cancels strikes on Tehran

The Iranian army threatened Thursday to widen the scope of war with the US beyond the Middle East and disrupt global oil and gas exports if Washington launches further attacks against the country, shortly before US President Donald Trump announced the cancellation of planned strikes on Iran tonight.

"We warn that if America attempts to launch further attacks against brave Iran, it will face a stronger response than before, and the flames of war will spread not only across the region, but throughout the world," Major General Ali Abdollahi, commander of Iran's Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, said in statements carried by the Fars News Agency.

Referring to Trump's recent threat of seizing control of Iran's primary oil export facility at Kharg Island in the Gulf, he said: "Either oil and gas exports will be available to everyone or impossible for everyone."

The threat was made shortly before Trump announced on his Truth Social platform that he had canceled scheduled strikes and bombings against Iran for Thursday evening.

"Based on the fact that discussions with the Islamic Republic of Iran have been brought to the highest level of Iranian leadership and approved, I have, as President of the United States of America, cancelled the scheduled strikes and bombings against Iran this evening," he wrote.

US forces carried out a second day of strikes against multiple targets in Iran on Thursday following the downing of an Apache helicopter over the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), for its part, said 18 major US military targets had been struck at Ali Al Salem and Ahmad Al Jaber air bases in Kuwait, Sheikh Isa Air Base in Bahrain, and a base hosting American fighter jets in Jordan.

The latest escalation has heightened regional tensions following US strikes on Iran and Tehran's subsequent announcement that it was closing the Strait of Hormuz to maritime.