Iran threatened on Wednesday to spread war beyond the Middle East if the United States attacks again, after President Donald Trump said he had come within an hour of restarting the military campaign.

Six weeks since Trump paused Operation Epic Fury for a ceasefire, talks to end the war have largely stalled.

Iran submitted a new offer to the United States this week, but its public accounts of it repeat terms previously rejected by Trump, including demands for control of the Strait of Hormuz, compensation for war damage, lifting of sanctions, release of frozen assets and the withdrawal of US troops from the area.

Trump said on Monday, and again on Tuesday, that he had come close to ordering a new bombing campaign but had put it off at the last minute to give more time for diplomacy.

"I was an hour away from making the decision to go today," Trump told reporters at the White House on Tuesday.

Iran has repeatedly threatened to retaliate for any new attacks by striking countries in the Middle East that house US bases. On Wednesday it suggested it would also hit targets further afield.

"If aggression against Iran is repeated, the promised regional war will this time spread far beyond the region, and our devastating blows will crush you," the Revolutionary Guards said in a statement carried on state media.

"The American-Zionist enemy... must know that despite the offensive carried out against us using the full capabilities of the world's two most expensive armies, we have not deployed the full power of the Islamic revolution," the Guards said in a statement on their Sepah News website.

Citing Iranian diplomatic sources, official news agency IRNA meanwhile announced a visit to Tehran by Pakistan's Interior Minister, his second in less than a week.

More Israeli strikes on Lebanon

Iran has also demanded an end to Israel's strikes in Lebanon, which began in retaliation for the Iranian-backed Shia movement Hezbollah's attacks on Israel.

The Israeli military on Tuesday launched a series of strikes across Lebanon, killing 19 people, according to the Lebanese health ministry.

One strike, in the town of Deir Qanun al-Nahr in the Tyre district, killed 10 people including three children and three women, the ministry said.

The Israeli army in turn said that it intercepted a drone fired from Lebanon.

Israel and Lebanon's central government have twice extended a US-brokered ceasefire, but Israel says it does not apply to its attacks on Hezbollah.

In one possible sign of diplomatic progress, a rights group said that an Iranian citizen who holds US permanent residency was released from prison and returned to the United States.

Shahab Dalili had served 10 years in prison after a sentence for allegedly "cooperating with a hostile government," the Human Rights Activists News Agency said.

Pressure to end war 

Trump is under pressure to end the war, with soaring energy prices hurting his Republican Party ahead of congressional elections in November. Since the ceasefire in late April, his public comments have veered from threats to restart bombing to declarations that a peace deal was at hand, often in the same breath.

On Tuesday, Trump insisted the US retained the upper hand and that Iran was desperate for peace.

"You know how it is to negotiate with a country where you're beating them badly. They come to the table, they're begging to make a deal," he said. "I hope we don't have to do the war, but we may have to give them another big hit. I'm not sure yet."

He has previously made similar claims without a deal being concluded.

Vice President JD Vance, who led the US delegation last month at the only round of peace talks so far, said "a lot of good progress is being made" and "we're just going to keep working at it", even as he told Iran the US military was "locked and loaded".

The fluctuating US stances have sent oil prices bouncing up and down from day to day, though they have risen week by week since early May. Benchmark one-month Brent crude futures eased about 1.5% on Wednesday morning, just below $110 a barrel but still well above last week.

"Investors are keen to gauge whether Washington and Tehran can actually find common ground and reach a peace agreement, with the US stance shifting daily," said Toshitaka Tazawa, an analyst at Fujitomi Securities.