From Hormuz to data centers: How Iran’s threats are raising stakes of renewed war

TEHRAN — Iranian officials are increasingly presenting renewed confrontation with the United States and Israel not as a conflict Tehran can avoid at any price, but as one whose consequences could spread far beyond Iran’s borders.

Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, has warned that Iran has a broader target list for another round of fighting, potentially encompassing Gulf energy infrastructure and artificial intelligence facilities.

Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, meanwhile, has highlighted the economic and military costs Washington will be bearing if war resumes.

The messages reflect an effort to turn Iran’s vulnerability to another round of attacks into a source of leverage. But they also expose a strategic gamble: Tehran must convince its adversaries that escalation would be prohibitively expensive without provoking the confrontation it says it is preparing to fight back.…Read more by A correspondent in Tehran