JERUSALEM (AP) — Iran threatened Wednesday with a “strong response” to any U.S. attack on the Islamic Republic after President Joe Biden linked Tehran to the killing of three U.S. soldiers at a military base in Jordan.

The US has signaled it is preparing for retaliatory strikes in the Middle East after a drone strike on Sunday that also wounded at least 40 soldiers at Tower 22, a secret base in northeastern Jordan that is responsible for the American presence in neighboring Syria was crucial.

But concerns remain that further American strikes could further inflame a region already reeling from Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Yemen’s Houthi rebels’ ongoing attacks on ships in the Red Sea.

A U.S. Navy destroyer in the waterway shot down an anti-ship cruise missile fired by the Houthis late Tuesday. This is the latest attack on American forces patrolling the crucial maritime trade route, officials said.

The Iranian warnings initially came from Amir Saeid Iravani, the Iranian ambassador to the United Nations in New York. According to the state news agency IRNA, he gave a briefing to Iranian journalists late on Tuesday.

“The Islamic Republic would respond decisively to any attack on the county, its interests and its citizens, under any pretext,” IRNA quoted Iravani as saying. He described any potential Iranian retaliation as a “strong response,” without elaborating.

The Iranian mission to the United Nations did not respond to requests for comment or clarification on Iravani’s comments on Wednesday.

Iravani also denied that Iran and the US had exchanged any messages in recent days, whether through intermediaries or directly. Pan-Arab satellite broadcaster Al Jazeera, which is based in Qatar and funded by Qatar, previously reported that such communication had taken place. Qatar often acts as an intermediary between Washington and Tehran.

“Such messages were not exchanged,” Iravani said.

But the Iranian government has noted US threats of retaliation for the attack on the base in Jordan.

“Sometimes our enemies increase the threat and these days we hear some threats from American officials between the words,” Gen. Hossein Salami, commander of the Revolutionary Guard who reports only to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said at an event on Wednesday. “We tell them that you have experienced us and we know each other. We leave no threat unanswered.”

“We are not looking for war, but we are not afraid of war,” he added, according to IRNA.

On Saturday, a general in charge of Iran’s air defense described it as “at peak defensive readiness.” This also raises concerns about commercial aviation flying through and over Iran. After a U.S. drone strike killed a top general in 2020, Iranian air defenses accidentally shot down a Ukrainian passenger plane, killing all 176 people on board.

Meanwhile, attacks by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in the Red Sea continue, most recently against a US warship. The missile fired Tuesday evening targeted the USS Gravely, an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, the U.S. military’s Central Command said in a statement.

“No injuries or damage were reported,” the statement said.

A Houthi military spokesman, Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, claimed in a statement Wednesday morning that the attack was “a victory for the oppression of the Palestinian people and a response to US-British aggression against our country.”

Saree claimed the Houthis fired “several” rockets. something that was not recognized by the US Navy. The Houthis’ claims have been exaggerated in the past, and their rockets have sometimes crashed on land and failed to reach their target.

The Houthis claimed without evidence on Monday that they had attacked the USS Lewis B. Puller, a floating landing base used by the Navy SEALs and others. The US said there was no attack.

Since November, the rebels have repeatedly attacked ships in the Red Sea in connection with Israel’s offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. But they have often targeted ships with weak or no clear ties to Israel, endangering shipping on a key route for global trade between Asia, the Middle East and Europe.

The Houthis hit a merchant ship with a missile on Friday, starting a fire that burned for hours.

The US and UK have launched multiple rounds of airstrikes against the Houthis, while allied warships patrol waterways affected by the attacks. The European Union also plans to launch a naval mission in the Red Sea within three weeks to protect cargo ships from Houthi attacks, the bloc’s top diplomat said on Wednesday.

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Associated Press writer Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.