Iran's military warns it will strike all US assets in Middle East if nuclear sites attacked

Iran's Khatam al-Anbia Central Headquarters, which commands the country's armed forces, warned Wednesday (local time) that it would strike all US assets in the Middle East if the United States attacks Iran's nuclear facilities.

The headquarters said the United States had "threatened to carry out airstrikes against Iran's nuclear facilities and other critical sites," adding that any such action by "the aggressor and terrorist nation's military" would be regarded as an intent to escalate armed conflict in the Middle East. It further stressed that "all US assets, as well as those of its allies and backers, will become the target of decisive strikes by the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran" should such an attack occur.

The warning signals that while Iran has primarily targeted US military bases in the Middle East since armed conflict with the United States resumed earlier this month, it is prepared to expand its strikes to non-military targets — including energy infrastructure, financial institutions and data centers — as it did in the early stages of the war.

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday referenced "Pickaxe Mountain," a site in central Iran believed to house below-ground nuclear facilities, and warned that the area would be struck "very powerfully, very soon." Trump added that "any place they're even thinking about" in connection with nuclear activity "we will hit very, very powerfully."