Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei warned the United States on Saturday against launching new military strikes, vowing an immediate and geographically unrestricted retaliation if hostilities resume.
“If the enemies launch again military or terrorist attacks, it is the armed forces of the Islamic Republic and the Iranian nation who will determine the timing and conditions of their end,” a statement attributed to Khamenei declared on his official website. The warning came during a high-level security meeting in Tehran with senior military commanders, marking Khamenei’s first publicly reported gathering since succeeding his late father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in joint U.S. and Israeli airstrikes in late February.
Among the officials attending the session were Armed Forces Chief of Staff Ali Abdollahi, Army Chief Amir Hatami, and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Commander Ahmad Vahidi, according to the official release. Khamenei has remained out of public view since ascending to the role of Supreme Leader.
Emphasizing a posture of proactive deterrence, Khamenei directed military leadership to ensure that any level or type of threat meets an immediate, powerful, and geographically limitless counter-offensive. He further instructed defense officials to update targeting lists to encompass all material and immaterial assets belonging to what the statement termed the “U.S.-Zionist enemy.”
The escalating rhetoric coincides with renewed diplomatic initiatives designed to prevent a resurgence of open warfare. The conflict initially erupted on Feb. 28 following joint U.S.-Israeli bombardments against Iran, which prompted retaliatory Iranian strikes targeting U.S. regional allies.
Amid these fragile conditions, a Qatari diplomatic delegation arrived in Tehran on Friday to hold talks with Iranian authorities. The visit followed the delivery of a communication from U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance, though domestic Iranian media reported that Tehran has not yet formally responded to the message.
