Two senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps officers told the New York Times that Iranian generals used the brief April ceasefire to secretly coordinate with Hezbollah, the Houthis, and Iraqi militias on expanding the war and raising its cost for the United States. [1]

The disclosure is not an unauthorized leak. The Institute for the Study of War and the Critical Threats Project assessed that the officers' decision to speak now is likely part of Iran's information effort to deter US and Israeli strikes against Iranian critical infrastructure. [3] The timing is the story: a revelation that a truce was a planning session arrives the same day President Trump claims a deal is near.

Senior Quds Force commanders held video conferences with militia leaders from Hezbollah, the Houthis, and Shiite armed groups in Iraq during the ceasefire, the officers said. Iranian advisers were deployed alongside the militias in the field. The attacks that followed were designed to avoid direct confrontation with American or Israeli forces, which could invite harsh retaliation against Iran itself. [1]

The objective, the officers said, was to make the war as costly as possible for Trump, in part by limiting regional oil exports and disrupting global shipping routes. Mahdi Mohammadi, a senior adviser to Iran's chief negotiator, had publicly signaled the broader strategy on social media. "The rules of the conflict are changing and being rewritten," he wrote, adding that "the fronts are multiplying from different directions in the region; they are of course coordinated but act independently. A new axis of resistance is emerging with new players." [2]

Iran has moved to fill leadership gaps inside Hezbollah, whose ranks were decimated by war with Israel. The IRGC deployed Revolutionary Guards commanders directly onto Hezbollah's governing council, giving Tehran greater operational control over the group, according to Lebanese government officials. [1]

CTP-ISW has observed reports consistent with some of these officers' claims. The IRGC reportedly set up covert cells in Iraq to carry out attacks on Gulf countries that host US forces during the ceasefire, according to eight Iraqi sources speaking to Reuters. [3] The officers' statements are consistent with CTP-ISW's ongoing assessment that Iran seeks to weaken US resolve by increasing the military and political costs of sustained US operations against Iran.