Iranian officials claimed victory less than a day after the latest exchange with Israel, while warning that any further Israeli or American action could trigger another regional response. Iranian leaders and regime-linked media presented the fighting as proof that Iran had changed the regional equation, tying Israel, the U.S., Lebanon, Hezbollah, Yemen and the Red Sea into one broader front.

Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, speaker of Iran’s parliament and a senior figure in Tehran’s negotiating team, said Iran would continue to combine military pressure with diplomacy. “We are not going to either just fight or just negotiate; rather, we are going to fight at our own time and negotiate at our own time,” Qalibaf said.

He also claimed Iran had disrupted what he called an empty ceasefire framework that was being violated on the ground. “We upended the equation of a ceasefire on paper and its repeated violation on the ground,” he said. “So long as you lack a genuine willingness to build trust, Iran’s response will remain the same.”

Other senior Iranian officials joined the threats. Mohsen Rezaei, an adviser to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, warned that Iran would respond to any “aggression” in the area of the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf. Mohammad Bagher Zolqadr, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, warned Israel and the U.S. that “If the Zionist-American evil coalition makes another mistake, the region will become hell for them.”

The threats were also linked to Iran’s regional proxy network. Esmail Qaani, commander of the IRGC Quds Force, said “From the Strait of Hormuz to Bab al-Mandab, and from the Persian Gulf to the Red Sea, a new security belt of resistance will be established.” The Houthis also renewed threats against Israeli-linked navigation in the Red Sea after missile launches from Yemen toward Israel.

Inside Iran, Hamshahri published a list of “five achievements” it attributed to Iran after the latest round, including what it called the unification of regional fronts after the Beirut strike. The paper said the exchange showed that “Dahieh and Lebanon are not out of the picture,” while also arguing that Hezbollah remains central to Iran’s deterrence equation.