Six months after the start of U.S. and Israeli attacks, the Islamic Republic continues to regard the expansion of the regional war as part of its strategy to increase the costs of the conflict and maintain the regime.

Islamic Republic officials have threatened that if the maritime blockade and U.S. pressure continue, they will target oil exports from the Persian Gulf states. Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, said that if the blockade continues, Tehran will not allow “even a drop of oil” to leave the Persian Gulf.

In this strategy, Tehran seeks to spread the war to the countries hosting U.S. forces, threaten energy arteries, and use proxy forces in order to distribute the cost of the confrontation among the United States, regional countries, and the global economy.

At the same time, some officials have spoken about the possibility of expanding the war into the land domain; an action that is said to aim at reducing the impact of U.S. and Israeli air superiority.

However, an attack on regional countries could backfire and push them toward greater military and economic cooperation with the United States. In Tehran’s calculations, the goal is not the military defeat of the United States, but the survival of the Islamic Republic and increased pressure for it to have its demands accepted.