Khamenei orders 'geographically unrestricted' response to any new US or Israeli attack
Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has ordered the armed forces to prepare an immediate, geographically unrestricted response to any renewed US or Israeli attack, as conflicting reports continue over direct talks in Doha.
Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has ordered the country's armed forces to prepare an immediate, impactful and geographically unrestricted response to any new attack by the United States or Israel, according to a statement published on his official Telegram account and website on Saturday.
The order came after a meeting with senior military commanders, including armed forces chief of staff Ali Abdollahi, army chief Amir Hatami and Revolutionary Guards commander Ahmad Vahidi. Reports of the meeting said the commanders briefed Khamenei on military readiness along the Persian Gulf coast, in the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman, and along Iran's north-western and south-eastern borders.
According to the statement, Khamenei said that if enemies once again launched military or terrorist attacks, it would be the armed forces of the Islamic Republic and the Iranian nation that determined the time and conditions for ending them. He ordered commanders to ensure that any level or type of threat was met with a response without geographic limits.
He also ordered an update of Iran's target list so that all tangible and intangible assets of the United States and Israel would be within the reach of Iranian forces, and called for stronger military intelligence, greater indigenous defence capability and increased weapons production. The statement described intelligent combat readiness for a powerful confrontation as a requirement for maximum deterrence.
The Iranian army reinforced the warning on Saturday. Army spokesman Mohammad Akraminia said in a post on X that if the US president once again embarked on what he called regional adventurism under pressure from, and in an attempt to appease, Israel, the flames of war would undoubtedly engulf a much wider geographical area. He did not elaborate on what form such a response would take.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also warned on Saturday that Iran's powerful armed forces would deal with those who dared to harm its people. His remarks underlined Tehran's dual message: readiness for a wider confrontation alongside continued, indirect engagement through mediators.
The warnings arrive at a moment of sharp uncertainty about both war and diplomacy. MS NOW reported on Friday, citing three senior Gulf Arab officials, that Washington had briefed Gulf allies to prepare for a short, intense round of strikes on Iran as soon as 4 November, the day after the US midterm elections. That report has not been confirmed by the US government, and the same reporting said Gulf allies were lobbying Washington to de-escalate for fear of Iranian retaliation.
On Friday, US President Donald Trump said Iran was interested in holding talks with Washington and that the war was going to be over very soon, adding that Iran could not have a nuclear weapon. Earlier reporting said US Vice President JD Vance had contacted an Iranian official in an attempt to restart negotiations, and a letter from Vance was delivered to Tehran by Qatari mediators.
Speaking to Al Jazeera on Saturday, Araghchi described the US outreach as a positive step, but said Tehran saw no need to meet the Americans at this stage and that reports of a planned meeting were merely media speculation. He said Iran's conditions were clear, that mediators were continuing consultations, and that whether direct or indirect talks happened depended on those conditions being met.
Those conditions, as set out by Araghchi, include lifting sanctions imposed after the Islamabad memorandum, reducing US forces in the region, restoring oil waivers and releasing frozen Iranian funds, including funds held in Qatar. On the Strait of Hormuz, he said Tehran had reached a proposal that would shorten the implementation period for reopening the waterway to two days, after Qatar proposed shortening it to five days, and that an aide of his was in Doha to continue consultations.
The picture on direct talks remains contradictory. The Qatari newspaper Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported on Saturday that a US delegation was expected in Doha for direct talks after preliminary understandings on the nuclear programme, Hormuz shipping and economic incentives, with China and Russia as possible guarantors. A diplomatic source cited by Axios reporter Barak Ravid, however, said there was no agreement on direct talks and no date for a US delegation. No government has confirmed a direct meeting.
What happens next therefore remains open. One possibility is that mediation by Qatar and Pakistan continues to narrow the gap on Hormuz, the nuclear programme and sanctions relief, and that a direct meeting follows only if Tehran judges its conditions have been met. Another possibility is that a new round of strikes after the US midterms triggers the wider response Khamenei has now ordered, drawing in Gulf states already warning of the risks. Regional voices at this week's Manama Dialogue, including Egypt, have warned that a second round of war would be more destructive than the first, while Britain has confirmed defensive air support for Saudi Arabia and other Gulf partners. For now, both tracks — the threat of escalation and the search for a negotiated pause — are running at the same time, and neither has yet produced a confirmed breakthrough.
