IRGC will target US ships in Indian Ocean if fighting resumes, official says

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian departed Tehran for the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Tuesday, the country's semi-official media outlets said, telling reporters he would "defend our positions with strength."

Referring to the ongoing conflict with the U.S. and the standoff centered on the Strait of Hormuz, Pezeshkian said, "Nations cannot be forced into submission through force," as quoted by the semi-official Tasnim News Agency.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi will also be part of Tehran's delegation, having already arrived in New York on Monday, according to state media.

Hossein Mohebbi, a spokesman for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, told Iranian state TV Sunday night that “the war has not ended” and the IRCG is “prepared for a long-term war.”

Mohebbi added, “We will certainly change the geography of the war. There will be changes in the weapons and military equipment … and the world will see the power and precision of our weapons and the world will be astonished."

He also said Iran’s “targets are no longer necessarily the same as before.”

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) Centre reported that a tanker was "struck by an unknown projectile" in the Strait of Hormuz on Monday morning, with at least two crew members injured.

"The vessel is reported to be continuing to its next port of call under its own power. There is no reported environmental impact at this time," the UKMTO said in its alert.

Iranian forces are prepared to launch a "counteroffensive" in the event of renewed U.S. attacks on the country, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps spokesperson Brig. Gen. General Hossein Mohebbi told the semi-official Tasnim News Agency in an interview published on Monday.

"If a new aggression takes place, there will definitely be significant changes in our defense and our counteroffensive," Mohebbi said. "We will definitely change the geography of the war," he added.

The spokesperson said Tehran also plans to use new weapons and tactics in the event of renewed fighting. "We will definitely bring new weapons with new capabilities into the battlefield, and the world will be surprised," he said.

The U.S., Mohebbi said, has already suffered a "historic and disgraceful defeat."