Iran says missile range can be raised "as the battlefield requires"

The statement follows the army's warning that it is ready to strike first and the president's description of the country as being in an all-out war.

Iran says the range of its weapons can be extended "as the battlefield requires," adding a new capability dimension to a week of rhetoric that has so far focused on sequencing and sanctions.

The statement comes days after Iran's army said it was ready to strike first if threatened, a position that followed weeks of rising tension between Washington and Tehran, including a bomber evacuation and strikes near the Strait of Hormuz. President Pezeshkian has said Iran is in "all-out war" and has vowed to resist, with tanker traffic through the strait still near a standstill.

Iran has shipped no crude by tanker since August 25, and seven vessel strikes have been documented near Hormuz since late September. Iranian officials have said the strait will not reopen under pressure. In Washington, Secretary of State Rubio has repeated that Iran must not be allowed a nuclear program, Vice President Vance has said Tehran cannot claim it does not want a nuclear weapon while enriching uranium to 60%, and President Trump has said Iran still has to be "finished off" and that its drone-making capacity is "soon to be gone." None of the three has set out new steps, a timeline or a mechanism.

Crude oil continues to carry the disruption premium tied to Hormuz that is already built into pricing. A stated willingness to adjust missile range, alongside the halt in tanker shipments and the run of strikes near the strait, keeps the confrontation track dominant over any stalled effort at mediation.