TEHRAN, March 11 (Xinhua) -- Iranian armed forces on Wednesday warned that they would launch massive retaliation if the United States were to strike Iran's ports.

Abolfazl Shekarchi, a spokesman for Iran's armed forces, made the remarks in an interview with state-run IRIB TV after the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) published a post on its Persian page on social media platform X, calling on civilians in Iran to immediately stay away from the port facilities in which Iranian naval forces are carrying out operations.

"If the United States carries out its threat against Iran's ports, no port, economic center, or point in the Persian Gulf will be out of our reach," Shekarchi said.

He rejected a claim by CENTCOM Commander Brad Cooper that vessels belonging to Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) are hiding in Iran's economic docks and ports, saying the naval forces of the IRGC and Iran's army are powerful enough not to do such a thing and cause people problems.

On Feb. 28, Israel and the United States launched joint attacks on Tehran and several other Iranian cities, killing Iran's then Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, along with senior military commanders and civilians. Iran responded by launching waves of missile and drone strikes targeting Israeli and U.S. assets in the Middle East. ■