Khamenei warns US and Israel: any new attack will meet an immediate response without geographic limits
file photograph, April 2026, Khamenei.ir via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0 — NOT a photo of the 31 Oct meeting.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has warned the United States and Israel that any new attack on his country will be answered immediately, effectively and without geographic limits. In a statement issued by his office on Saturday, October 31, Khamenei told the country’s top military commanders that every level and type of threat must be met with a response that carries no restriction on where it falls.
What the commanders were ordered to do
The supreme leader instructed the armed forces to update their target lists so that all material and immaterial assets of the United States and Israel fall within their reach. He described what he called intelligent combat readiness for a powerful confrontation as one of the prerequisites of maximum deterrence, and said that if Iran’s enemies renewed their military attacks, it would be Iran’s armed forces and its people who decide when and on what terms the fighting ends.
It is the first time a meeting between Khamenei and the military top brass has been publicly announced since he took over as head of state. Those present included Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Ali Abdollahi, army commander Amir Hatami and Revolutionary Guards commander Ahmad Vahidi. The statement gave no date or venue for the meeting.
A warning issued alongside diplomacy
The warning lands at an awkward moment: diplomacy is still moving, but so is the talk of war. A Qatari mediation team recently visited Tehran for talks that ran for more than twelve hours, while US President Donald Trump is reported to be weighing large-scale strikes on Iran after Tuesday’s midterm elections on November 3. The Wall Street Journal has reported that Washington has warned Gulf countries to prepare for renewed strikes against Iran after those elections.
The background
The war between Iran and the United States and Israel began on February 28, when US-Israeli strikes killed Iran’s then supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. In March, the Assembly of Experts named his son Mojtaba as the new supreme leader. Iran answered the opening strikes with attacks on American assets across the region, and has previously warned that it could sever undersea cables in the Strait of Hormuz.
