An Israeli Navy Dolphin-class submarine. Photo: Moshe Shai / Flash90.

Iran issued a belligerent threat to Israel on Monday, telling the Jewish state not to cross “red lines” following the reported deployment of an Israeli submarine to the Gulf.

An Israeli submarine reportedly entered the Gulf, off the Iranian coast, last week, though Israel has neither confirmed nor denied these reports. Asked about them, an IDF spokesperson said that Israeli naval assets were “sailing everywhere.”

The AFP news agency on Monday quoted a Foreign Ministry spokesman for the Iranian regime, Saeed Khatibzadeh, as telling a news conference, “Everyone knows what the Persian Gulf signifies for Iran.”

“Everyone knows the policies (of Tehran) regarding security and national security,” he asserted. “Everyone knows very well how high the risk is raised if the red lines of Iran are crossed.”

Khatibzadeh then directly warned the United States, which has also deployed naval assets to the Gulf.

“We have sent messages to the US government and our friends in the region (warning) the current US regime not to embark on a new adventure in its final days at the White House,” he said.

He further called for “rational people in Washington” to refrain from any operations against Iran.

There has been widespread speculation that President Donald Trump might order military action against Iran, particularly its nuclear program, before he leaves office next month.

In November, Axios reported that the Israeli military had been instructed to prepare for possible fallout from a US strike on Iran, though this was a precautionary measure and not based on any specific information that such an attack was imminent.

On Sunday, the pro-regime outlet Tehran Times reported that an Iranian official had told the Al Jazeera network that, “Israel must know that our response to aggression against our national security will be strong and massive.”

“Israel is looking for excuses to drag the region into a tension that creates chaos in the last days of the Trump presidency,” the official claimed.