TEHRAN -- The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps said on Thursday that Iran’s military initiatives have changed the battlefield equation and forced the United States to disperse its forces, withdraw equipment to more distant locations and increasingly rely on concealed and underground deployments.
In a statement, the IRGC said the “resistance and courage of the Iranian people” and Iran’s “intelligent use of geography” have pushed U.S. military planning into a strategic deadlock, making Washington’s traditional patterns of deployment increasingly costly and ineffective.
“The evacuation and deactivation of CENTCOM bases, the transfer of forces to Jordan with the assumption of a ‘secure rear,’ the imposition of casualties, the withdrawal of intelligence and military equipment to more distant locations, and the move toward concealed and underground deployments” have imposed a heavy cost on the United States, the statement said.
The IRGC said the developments demonstrate the growing difficulty of maintaining a conventional and exposed U.S. military presence around Iran.
“The initiatives of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran have changed the battlefield equation,” it said. 
“Bases, runways, hangars, aircraft and everything on land and water, including US warships, have been placed under the threat of continuous and sustained strikes.”
The statement said Iran’s sustained firepower and strategy of launching successive strikes have created a fundamental contradiction for Washington: increasing its presence creates more targets and higher casualties.
The IRGC said the central measure of the changing military balance should not simply be the physical damage inflicted on U.S. forces, but how much freedom of action Washington retains in the region.
“The strategic achievement should be measured by the reduction in America’s freedom of action,” the statement said. 
“The main criterion for a change in the balance is not merely the amount of damage; it is the amount of freedom of action that has been taken away from the enemy.”
The IRGC cited attacks on U.S. naval forces, casualties among American personnel in Jordan, disruption and damage to vessels following Iranian responses, and the vulnerability, destruction and capture of unmanned equipment as examples of pressures it says have constrained Washington’s military options.
“These developments have increased the targets accessible to Iran and pushed America toward dispersal, concealment and ‘minimal presence,’” the statement said.