Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian warned again that his country would retaliate if their infrastructure and economic centers were attacked after Tehran suffered a wave of strikes from Israel as the region marked a month into the fighting.

Pezeshkian reiterated in a post on X on Saturday that Iran "does not carry out preemptive attacks", but that Tehran "will retaliate strongly if our infrastructure or economic centers are targeted".

"To the countries of the region: If you want development and security, don't let our enemies run the war from your lands," Pezeshkian said.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has also threatened to target US and Israeli universities across the Middle East after the bombing of Iran's University of Science and Technology.

In a statement published on Iran's Tasnim News agency on March 29, the IRGC advised all employees, professors, and students of US universities in the region, as well as residents in the surrounding areas, "to stay at least one kilometer away from the mentioned universities to protect their lives".

"If the US administration wants its universities in the region not be among the two targeted for retaliation in this stage, must by 12 noon on Monday, March 30, Tehran time, issue an official statement condemning the bombing of universities," the statement read.

"And if it wants its universities in the region to not be hit thereafter, it must prevent its savage allied forces from attacking universities and research centers; otherwise, the threat remains valid and will be carried out," the IRGC added.

The escalated threats follow after some 3,500 US troops arrive in the Middle East. The US Central Command announced on Saturday on its X account that a task force of 3,500 marines and sailors arrived in the Middle East on Friday.

Coupled with the news is a report in the Washington Post on the same day that the US Department of Defense was preparing options for ground operations in Iran, which would fall short of a full-scale invasion but could involve thousands of troops and take weeks or months.

Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf told Islamic Republic News Agency, that the US "openly sends messages of negotiation, while secretly planning a ground attack".

He also noted that US President Donald Trump once sought to bring down Iran, but now his practical goal "is merely to reopen a strait that was accessible prior to the war".

Across the region on March 29, the United Arab Emirates activated its air defenses and reported interception of missiles and drones. Sirens were activated in Kuwait and Bahrain while Saudi Arabia intercepted 10 drones.

Meanwhile, Egypt and Turkiye's foreign ministers arrived in Islamabad to hold talks in effort to deescalate tensions in the region. They are also expected to meet Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

In a post on X, Pakistani Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said it was great news that the government of Iran "has agreed to allow 20 more ships under the Pakistani flag to pass through the Strait of Hormuz; two ships will cross the Strait daily".

"This is a welcome and constructive gesture by Iran and deserves appreciation. It is a harbinger of peace and will help usher stability in the region. This positive announcement marks a meaningful step toward peace and will strengthen our collective efforts in that direction," Dar said.

"Dialogue, diplomacy, and such confidence-building measures are the only way forward," he added.

Arhama Siddiqa, a research fellow at the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad in Pakistan, told China Daily that the quadrilateral engagement in Islamabad "carries measured but not decisive significance in the current escalation cycle".

On one hand, she said the presence of senior diplomats from regional middle powers, particularly the governments of Recep Tayyip Erdo?an of Turkiye and Egypt's Abdel Fattah el-Sisi's administration, "signals a coordinated attempt to create a diplomatic off-ramp at a moment when the situation risks further militarization, especially with the forward positioning of US troops".

However, the limited impact of prior calls for restraint reflects a structural reality: regional actors possess influence, but not decisive leverage over the core drivers of escalation, according to Siddiqa.

"Israeli actions, particularly the targeting of critical infrastructure, have continued to shape the tempo of the crisis, narrowing space for diplomacy and compelling reactive postures from others," Siddiqa said.

"So honestly, the Islamabad meeting should be viewed less as an immediate de-escalation mechanism and more as an effort to consolidate a regional consensus that could, over time, constrain further escalation and reintroduce diplomatic channels into an otherwise rapidly (for lack of a better word) hardening security environment," she added.

Contact the writers at jan@chinadailyapac.com