The IRGC warns that any fresh aggression will bring
 new weapons, new targets and an expanded battlefield, 
declaring that Tehran is prepared for a prolonged war.

TEHRAN — The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) warned Monday that any new aggression against Iran would trigger fundamental changes in the geography of war, the introduction of weapons that will astonish the world, and strikes on targets still beyond the enemy’s imagination, declaring that the IRGC is prepared for a long war and that America has already lost not a battle but an entire system.                                

Brigadier General Hussein Mohebbi, spokesman for the IRGC, said in an interview that the U.S.-Israeli project against Iran has ended in a “historic and humiliating” strategic defeat, and that Washington lacks the courage to admit it. 
He said Iran is now consolidating its victory into a permanent deterrent power, while America searches in vain for a way to convert its defeat into victory.
The remarks followed a statement by the General Staff of the Armed Forces and Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters marking Sacred Defense Week, which declared: “We will make the enemy taste the bitter taste of further defeats.” 
The statement called on America and the Zionist regime to bow before the Iranian nation, and said the armed forces have changed the region’s security equations in favor of the Islamic ummah by inflicting heavy damage on U.S. and Israeli military infrastructure and strategic interests in West Asia.
“The most evident example is taking control of the Strait of Hormuz under Iranian arrangements, the collapse of the paper grandeur of America’s decaying Hollywood army, and the humiliation of the child-killing Zionist army,” the statement said.
Iran, it said, will impose another defeat on global arrogance in the face of combined economic, cognitive and media wars.
Army Commander Major General Amir Hatami, in his own Sacred Defense Week message, said the recent 12-day and 40-day imposed wars displayed “other manifestations of Iran’s authority, cohesion and readiness,” proving that any aggression against the Islamic Republic’s security and territorial integrity will meet a decisive and regretful response. 
He said that while the recent wars differed in form and tools from the Sacred Defense, they shared one truth: the Iranian nation stood united against aggression, and the armed forces defended the country’s existence with faith, experience and indigenous capability.
Mohebbi laid out five arenas of American strategic failure. On Hormuz, he said the U.S. — despite possessing the world’s largest navy and justifying its regional presence as protecting energy flows and freedom of navigation — failed to reopen the strait, failed to uphold its own slogan, and “became the disruptor of the security it claimed to provide.” 
He stressed that the strait was open before America’s war and closed because of it. “This is the greatest American defeat in the region,” he said.
On military bases, Mohebbi said dozens of U.S. installations across the Persian Gulf, Iraq and Syria were struck by Iranian missiles and drones, forcing Washington to relocate forces and equipment to distant bases in Jordan, the Gulf of Aqaba and Syria, where they were again targeted. 
“All the investment meant to create security turned into insecurity,” he said, noting that after the war all American warships were driven out of the Persian Gulf to a distance of 400 kilometers, and that U.S. bases today cannot even protect themselves.
On intelligence, he said the notion of unreachable American technological intelligence centers collapsed when Iranian missiles struck U.S. intelligence hubs in the Persian Gulf and northern Iraq. 
“It became clear these are not unreachable, and Iran was able to monitor, identify and strike them,” he said.
On military technology, Mohebbi said U.S. superiority — the F-35, Patriot, refueling aircraft, submarines and drones — “faded before Iran’s offensive and defensive power.” 
He said the message reached both America’s rivals, who gained confidence that this technology is not inaccessible, and its allies, who realized it cannot even defend itself.
On hegemony, he defined it as three components: the perception of invincibility, the ability to protect allies, and political and moral legitimacy. 
“America lost in all three,” he said, citing the bombing of the Shajareh Tayyebeh school in Minab, the testing of a new weapon in Lamard, and the bombing of a wedding party. 
“Today America has not lost a war, it has lost a system — the new world order. Today it is we who define the region’s new system, not America.”

‘The War Is Not Over; We Are Ready for a Long War’

Mohebbi rejected the idea that the war has entered a new phase. “From our perspective, the war is the same war, it has different stages, but it is the same war and it is not over. It continues, and the IRGC has prepared itself for a long war — it was ready before and is readier now.” 
He said that if a new phase of intensified aggression occurs, Iran has the readiness and will defend itself.
Asked about any contacts between the IRGC and the U.S., Mohebbi was categorical: “Such contacts do not exist.”
“The IRGC, under the constitution, has a military duty. It is the defensive and military arm of Iran and Islam and does not enter diplomacy. Diplomacy belongs to the Foreign Ministry, which can answer whether contacts exist. The IRGC has never had, and will never have, any official or unofficial contact with the United States, and does not enter diplomacy at all. The IRGC is a military force under the command of the Supreme Commander, pursuing military affairs — the defensive power of Iran and Islam — fully equipped, fully experienced and fully ready to fight any enemy, any way, anywhere. But it does not enter diplomacy.”
On the nature of a potential new attack, Mohebbi said: “If a new aggression occurs, there will certainly be significant changes in our defense and our reciprocal offensive. Change in the geography of war — we will certainly change the geography of war. Change in the weapons and equipment we employ — we will certainly introduce new weapons with new capabilities, and the world will be astonished. And our targets will be different; our targets will not necessarily be the same previous targets. We have new targets that have not yet been struck, and in the event of aggression we will strike new targets.”
He invoked martyred Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei’s words that Iran would regionalize the war. 
“The war has now become regional, but because the region is vast, there is still room to expand it geographically. In terms of weaponry, we produced weapons during the war and are upgrading their capabilities daily — strategic weapons we have not yet used at the stages of the war we have passed. 
“They will be used when necessary, and the world will see what happens. Our new targets may not even occur to the enemy, just as the enemy never imagined we would strike al-Tanf base or the Gulf of Aqaba. We have targets currently beyond the enemy’s imagination.”
Mohebbi said America never anticipated Iranian resilience and believed it could force Iran’s surrender within days — an image cultivated by the Zionist regime. 
He recounted intelligence that the Israeli president told the U.S. president he could subdue Iran in three to five days and break the record of the Six-Day War. 
“The foolish American president, influenced by this false image, entered the war — then was quoted asking why Iran does not surrender. This shows his calculations were entirely wrong.” 
He said America is “completely surprised” by the range, destructive power, precision and radar-evading capability of Iran’s missiles and the diversity of its missiles and drones, finding itself in a dilemma with no way forward and no way back.
On the Axis of Resistance, Mohebbi said some imagine Yemen and Lebanon are Iran’s proxies, “but as our martyred Imam said, none of them are our proxies. They have their own attachment to their territorial integrity, their own policies, their own judgment, their own decisions”. 
“The resistance groups are in no way Iran’s proxies. The martyred Imam said there is only one proxy in this region — the usurping Zionist regime, which is the proxy of America and Europe. Even a European president said we do the regime’s proxy work.”
Mohebbi said Yemeni forces have the capacity to confront America and the usurping Zionist regime, because what gives power to a nation is its will. 
“From my distant knowledge of the Yemeni people’s will, their ideological, spiritual and patriotic capabilities, I know they can stand against any aggressor and are certainly influential in the region’s equations. They have a strong, solid will, and any nation with a strong will certainly finds the power to overcome its enemy.”
Mohebbi also said Hezbollah is not a rootless guerrilla group in Lebanon. 
“Hezbollah means the majority of the Lebanese people, a large part of the Lebanese people, even part of the Lebanese state. Because of its popular support and deep roots in the Lebanese people and Lebanon’s defense culture, it is certainly growing. American and Zionist pressure will never be able to weaken or destroy Hezbollah. More pressure will only make Hezbollah stronger, more fertile and more capable in defensive power. Our assessment is that the war sometimes advances and retreats tactically, but the real power belongs to Lebanon and Hezbollah. It is the Zionist regime that is desperate, it is the Zionist regime that is impotent before Hezbollah’s power, not Hezbollah. Hezbollah’s power is preserved and will be preserved.”
He said the future will bring Hezbollah greater strength. “With the Zionist regime’s cowardly aggression — which observes no ethics in war — the Lebanese people increase Hezbollah’s ranks day by day. Regardless of religion, sect or creed, they all support their country. They see the usurping regime adheres to no rule, no peace, no international norm — a regime that tears up a UN resolution in front of the UN’s own members. What trust can there be in this regime? The Lebanese people understand this and therefore stand behind Hezbollah. I give you this promise: Hezbollah will grow stronger, more capable and more equipped with superior military technology day by day, and the final victory belongs to Hezbollah.”
On U.S. bases in neighboring countries, Mohebbi said there are no longer any bases — “they were hosts, and now there are no bases.” He stressed that Iran’s relations with its neighbors are relations of good neighborliness. 
“We respect our neighbors. We separate the account of America, the Zionist regime and any other enemy that enters this region from the account of our neighbors. We do not transgress against our neighbors. We believe our neighbors themselves have concluded these bases bring them no benefit, provide no security — only insecurity.”
He explained Iran’s strikes toward Bahrain, Qatar and Saudi Arabia were directed solely at U.S. bases, not the countries. 
“If these bases were not there, why would we fire? In all these strikes we did not transgress against the country, only hit American bases. We do have a grievance with neighboring countries for placing their bases at the disposal of someone 2,000 kilometers away who comes here to secure his own interests. Can we not secure our own security? Can we not decide for our own interests? We will never transgress against our neighbors. We maintain good relations with them, and the account of these countries is separate from the account of the enemy.”