AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTYou have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.The warning was issued as President Trump and Vice President JD Vance say progress is being made toward a deal, while keeping open the threat of renewed strikes.Listen · 4:57 min Members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps stand near a drone display at a government-organized march in Tehran last month.Credit...Arash Khamooshi/Polaris for The New York TimesMay 20, 2026, 7:06 a.m. ETIran’s Revolutionary Guards warned on Wednesday that any new attack on the country would provoke them to spread the war beyond the Middle East, raising the stakes of diplomatic efforts to end the conflict.In a statement reported by Iranian state media, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a powerful military force that answers directly to the country’s supreme leader, said that if “aggression against Iran is repeated,” it would deliver blows “in places you cannot even imagine.”President Trump said this week that he had postponed a “very major attack” against Iran after the leaders of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar had asked for more time to pursue an agreement over Iran’s nuclear program. There was a “very good chance” that a deal could be reached, he said, but he was vague when asked how long Tehran had to return to the negotiating table, saying only “a limited period of time.”The dueling messages underscore the fragile state of diplomacy between the two countries, while the Guards’ threat echoed growing fears in Washington that Iran or allied groups could seek to strike Western interests outside the region. A criminal complaint that was unsealed in the United States last week accused an Iraqi man — described as a senior commander in Kataib Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militia in Iraq — of helping to plan attacks in the United States, Europe and Canada since the start of the war.Negotiations to end the conflict have stalled over Iran’s nuclear program and the Strait of Hormuz, a critical transit point for oil and gas. Iran has effectively closed the waterway since the early days of the war, rattling global energy markets. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENT