The latest development comes days after US President Donald Trump said ships are being moved towards the region 'just in case' he decides to take action. In return, Iranian authorities warned its force is 'more ready than ever, finger on the trigger'.
Iranian authorities unveiled a new billboard in a central Tehran Square on Sunday, seemingly aimed at warning the United States against intervention. The development comes shortly after President Donald Trump announced that the US is moving warships to the region "just in case" he wants to take action.
The billboard in Enghelab (Revolution) Square depicts an aircraft carrier with damaged and exploding fighter jets on its deck. Bodies and bloods of pool also cover the deck, with trails of blood, which show resemblence to the stripes of the American flag, streaming behind the fleet.
The graphic is accompanied by a slogan which reads: "If you sow the wind, you will reap the whirlwind".
Enghelab Square is typically used for state-organised gatherings, with authorities changeing its mural based on national occasions.
Last week, Trump said aboard Air Force One that the US is "watching Iran" and is moving the ships towards the country "just in case" he wants to take action.
"We have a massive fleet heading in that direction and maybe we won’t have to use it, we'll see," he said on Thursday.
Trump added that any military action would make earlier US strikes launched in June against Iranian nuclear sites "look like peanuts".
On Saturday, the commander of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, a powerful force within the country’s theocracy, warned the US and Israel to "avoid any miscalculation," and that the force is "more ready than ever, finger on the trigger".
Iran's foreign minister also issued a warning against the United States earlier last week, the most direct threat yet, warning that the Islamic Republic will be "firing back with everything we have if we come under renewed attack".
"Unlike the restraint Iran showed in June 2025, our powerful armed forces have no qualms about firing back with everything we have if we come under renewed attack," Araghchi wrote in an opinion piece published by The Wall Street Journal, referring to the 12-day conflict with Israel in June.
"This isn't a threat, but a reality I feel I need to convey explicitly, because as a diplomat and a veteran, I abhor war."
The latest escalation of the tension between Tehran and Washington comes amid Iran's on-going crackdown on nationwide protests that began on 28 December. According to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, the death toll rose to at least 5,002, activists on Friday. It also says more than 41,280 people have been arrested.
Many more are feared to be dead as Iran remains under an internet blackout that has lasted more than two weeks, severely restricting the flow of information.
The demonstrations began on 28 December initially over the collapse of the rial currency, but morphed into wider discontent with the country's government.