'If Iran runs out of missiles...': IRGC adviser says Tehran may drag war out until Trump leaves office
Mohammad Reza Naqdi on Tuesday said that deliberately prolonging the conflict until the end of Donald Trump's presidency was one path Iran was considering
- Aug 13, 2026,
- Updated Aug 13, 2026 7:43 AM IST
A senior adviser to the commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has outlined what he described as one of Tehran's strategic options in its war with the United Statesl wait Trump out.
Mohammad Reza Naqdi told PBS NewsHour on Tuesday that deliberately prolonging the conflict until the end of Donald Trump's presidency was one path Iran was considering. "One way is to prolong this war until we get to the next term of the presidency and cause attrition, so that if anyone else wants to reach Iran, they will know there is a cost," he said.
Naqdi was explicit about the logic: inflict enough pain on the United States during this conflict that any future administration thinks twice before launching a similar campaign. "We have to establish deterrence so that the enemy never dares to attack us. One way is to prolong the war and impose attrition, so that anyone who considers attacking Iran knows there will be a price to pay," he said.
Iran claims it is winning, but not finished
Naqdi said Iran's current assessment of the war was that it was prevailing, though it had not yet achieved its ultimate objective. He also said the conflict had provided Iranian forces with valuable experience fighting the US military — and that the enemy had turned out to be less formidable than expected.
The missile threat
On Iran's capacity to sustain the fight, Naqdi made a striking claim: the country is producing more missiles each day than it is firing. He said manufacturing was distributed across multiple locations, making it difficult to disrupt, and that Iran could continue launching rockets for years if the war continued.
He then issued a warning that appeared to reframe the threat entirely. "If there comes a day when Iran has no more missiles left, that's when we will be even more dangerous for America," Naqdi said. Asked how Iran could become more dangerous without missiles, he replied: "Because America has thousands of economic interests throughout the world, and all of them can be easily destroyed."
He did not specify which economic targets he was referring to or what methods Iran might use to strike them.
A senior adviser to the commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has outlined what he described as one of Tehran's strategic options in its war with the United Statesl wait Trump out.
Mohammad Reza Naqdi told PBS NewsHour on Tuesday that deliberately prolonging the conflict until the end of Donald Trump's presidency was one path Iran was considering. "One way is to prolong this war until we get to the next term of the presidency and cause attrition, so that if anyone else wants to reach Iran, they will know there is a cost," he said.
Naqdi was explicit about the logic: inflict enough pain on the United States during this conflict that any future administration thinks twice before launching a similar campaign. "We have to establish deterrence so that the enemy never dares to attack us. One way is to prolong the war and impose attrition, so that anyone who considers attacking Iran knows there will be a price to pay," he said.
Iran claims it is winning, but not finished
Naqdi said Iran's current assessment of the war was that it was prevailing, though it had not yet achieved its ultimate objective. He also said the conflict had provided Iranian forces with valuable experience fighting the US military — and that the enemy had turned out to be less formidable than expected.
The missile threat
On Iran's capacity to sustain the fight, Naqdi made a striking claim: the country is producing more missiles each day than it is firing. He said manufacturing was distributed across multiple locations, making it difficult to disrupt, and that Iran could continue launching rockets for years if the war continued.
He then issued a warning that appeared to reframe the threat entirely. "If there comes a day when Iran has no more missiles left, that's when we will be even more dangerous for America," Naqdi said. Asked how Iran could become more dangerous without missiles, he replied: "Because America has thousands of economic interests throughout the world, and all of them can be easily destroyed."
He did not specify which economic targets he was referring to or what methods Iran might use to strike them.