TEHRAN -- Iran’s top security official warned Sunday that if war breaks out again, American assets in the region — including undersea cables, data centers and artificial intelligence facilities valued at more than $2 trillion — “will be in the crosshairs”.
In an exclusive interview with Press TV, Major General Mohsen Rezaei declared that Tehran has deliberately withheld its full capabilities and has not yet added Washington’s most expensive holdings in the UAE to its target list.
“If war breaks out again, many of the cables, data centers and artificial intelligence centers — which are very expensive financially — will be in the crosshairs,” said Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council and representative of the Leader in the council.
“The value of these cables, data centers and AI centers exceeds $2 trillion. They were brought here from America and Europe because they consume enormous energy.”
He explained Iran’s deliberate strategy: “From the beginning, we did not do anything that would expose all our capabilities in the first week and leave our hands empty for later. Today, if there is a conflict, we will certainly face the enemy with a broader plan.”
Rezaei said Iran had precise calculations from the outset and managed the war correctly. 
“In the 12-day war, we revealed only a very small portion of our capabilities and did not bring many of our assets into play in the first twelve days,” he said. 
“In the 40-day war, it was different; we brought more capabilities to the scene. Today we are fully prepared that if war begins again, we will introduce new capabilities.”
He noted the enemy suffered heavy defeats repeatedly. 
“The enemy suffered a heavy defeat in the first twelve days, then suffered another heavy defeat in the 40 days, then entered a naval blockade and did not succeed. Recently, it began a siege and economic exclusion operation. Almost every new attack it has launched has failed.”
Rezaei described the U.S. attack as “one of the most foolish wars in human history — an unjust, evil and inhumane war.” 
He said the Trump administration “blindly handed the reins to Netanyahu,” entering war “with an illiterate defense minister and a foreign minister who confused the State Department with the FBI, without accurate assessment and without calculation.”
“They thought they could end the war in a short time and Trump would be known as one of the great heroes of American history,” Rezaei said. “But today, with the
 same foolishness, they cannot exit the war, and it requires rational Americans to step in and pull them out.”
On the Strait of Hormuz, Rezaei directly challenged Trump: “You are smuggling, but the Strait is under Iran’s control and we manage it.” 
He said: “Trump conducts smuggling operations with a number of bandits in Oman’s coastal waters, then tweets every day that the Strait is open.”
He detailed: “The head of these operations is the CENTCOM commander, and he also uses Emirati military forces. They prepare five or six ships, convert them to smaller vessels, then transfer to larger ships on the other side. We hit a number of these every night. Over the past two or three months, on average, we have hit five of these smuggler ships every night.”
“Captains used to get $10,000 to $15,000; now they get $100,000,” Rezaei said. “This is a smuggling operation with heavy costs and dangers in the southern rim. Then Trump says the Strait of Hormuz is open.”
He added: “Oil goes up and down around $100 and stays there. Diesel shortage in America forced it to extend a hand to Russia for diesel. Global oil reserves have decreased, prices have multiplied, and inflation has increased. These are the effects of the Strait of Hormuz that they themselves caused to be closed — otherwise, we had left it open.”
Rezaei confirmed that over two months, the Americans approached Iran through three channels — Pakistan, Qatar and even Iraq — and asked for Iran’s proposals. 
“We announced seven conditions to the Americans. If you do not implement these conditions, neither will the Strait of Hormuz open to you nor will there be negotiations,” he said.
“The Americans have now responded. They have accepted some of our conditions, and there are ambiguities in others. We consider their response insufficient. They must remove our ambiguities.”
He stressed: “Our diplomacy has changed and we will not return to past diplomacy. We had three rounds of negotiations and in every negotiation, the Americans left the talks unfinished and attacked Iran.”
On U.S. withdrawal from Iraq, Rezaei said: “America attacked Iraq with more than 150,000 forces and occupied it as a golden jewel. But the proud Iraqi nation, the religious authority and zealous Iraqi youth entered the scene and forced the Americans to retreat moment by moment.”
He cited Iran’s legendary commander martyr General Qasem Soleimani and Iraq’s prominent anti-terror commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis preventing Daesh from entering Baghdad. 
“According to the Pentagon, 600 attacks were carried out against them, but our reports show more than 1,500 projectiles from the resistance front against America.”
“The Americans went from Baghdad to Erbil first, then faced attacks there and were forced to leave. This was a very great victory and showed that the era of American military attack on countries, stationing there and taking over political affairs is over.”
Rezaei said America’s defeat in Iran prevented it from bringing 40,000-50,000 more forces into Baghdad to dissolve the government and parliament. “But because America’s attack on Iran failed, they had no way but to leave Iraq.” 
However, he warned: “Iraq’s revenues are still in America’s hands, Iraq’s sky is in America’s hands, and the suspension of Iran’s flights to Iraq shows that although America has withdrawn its ground forces, its economic interventions continue.”
Rezaei’s interview came days after U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio delivered a speech at the Acropolis in Athens on October 7, drawing parallels between the ancient Greco-Persian wars and modern tensions with Tehran, describing Persians as “invaders” and characterizing Iranian resistance as a “death cult”.
Addressing Rubio, Rezaei said: “I tell Mr. Rubio that those greater than you have wished many times to come to Iran. Over thousands of years, they wished to enter Iran, take it, and destroy the Iranian nation; the Iranian nation defeated them all, and their names are not in history today, but the Iranian nation remains proud and honorable.”
“Let me be clear: the more you increase these efforts, the only result is that you sink deeper into the swamp. You will once again be forced to kneel before the Iranian nation and multiply its greatness.”
He said: “At the beginning of the revolution, Imam Khomeini ordered the formation of a 20-million army, but after your attack on Iran, 30 million registered as self-sacrificing, ready to take up arms and stand against you. Is this your victory? This is the product of your work.”
On U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Rezaei said: “The American Treasury Secretary is known in America as the lying minister. He announced he would unfreeze the U.S. housing market, but it got worse. He said he would reduce inflation, it increased. He said he would lower bond interest rates, they went from 1% to 5%.”
“He is now printing and selling bonds to pay salaries of American employees and soldiers,” Rezaei said. 
“Now he wants to confront the Iranian nation and their tables. I am sure he will suffer a heavy defeat. Just as they were defeated in military war, we will defeat them in economic war.”
He announced: “We will soon announce the economic defense arrangement plans. A council for economic war is likely being discussed and may be formed. We will show Trump and the Treasury Secretary what economic war is.”
Rezaei said: “The end of the war is a serious issue in all military theories. The Americans have used all theories of war termination to exit this war and have failed. The reason is they do not know what that powerful force in Iran is and where it comes from.”
“Trump recently said he does not know who to talk to in Iran. It is clear: you must talk to the Iranian nation,” he said. “You say you want to erase the Iranian nation and destroy Iran’s civilization. You mobilize the Iranian people more against yourself.”
“The end of the war is in the hands of the Iranian nation, and unless it makes you submit to its rights, it will not stop resisting, standing and defending.”