Khamenei Orders Retaliation Beyond Geographic Limits if US Launches Attacks

Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has ordered the country’s armed forces to retaliate without geographic limitations if the United States and Israel launch fresh attacks against Iran.

The warning was issued in a statement published on his official website on Saturday (October 31). It came after Washington reportedly threatened to resume attacks on Tehran. According to a report, the United States could launch strikes as early as November 4, the day after the US midterm elections on November 3.

In the statement, Khamenei said, “If the enemy launches military or terrorist attacks again, the Islamic Republic’s armed forces and the Iranian people will determine when and how they will end.”

The statement was released while Khamenei was holding a meeting with senior military officials, according to reports. Those present included Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces Ali Abdollahi, Army Chief Amir Hatami and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Commander Ahmad Vahidi.

It was reportedly his first publicly announced meeting with senior military commanders since becoming Iran’s supreme leader.

Mojtaba Khamenei has not appeared in public since his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed in US and Israeli strikes at the beginning of the war on February 28. He was also believed to have been injured in the same attacks.

The statement said Khamenei had instructed military commanders to ensure an “immediate, effective and geographically unrestricted response” to threats of any scale or nature.

He also described the United States and Israel as the “American-Zionist enemy” and ordered officials to update the list of Iranian targets to include all their visible and hidden assets.

During the war this year, Iran launched thousands of drones and missiles targeting Israel, US military bases across the Middle East and energy facilities in several countries.

Tehran also demonstrated its ability to strike the Diego Garcia military base in the southern Indian Ocean, located nearly 4,000 kilometres away. The attack indicated that Iranian missiles could potentially reach almost any location in Europe.

Israeli officials have repeatedly warned that Iran’s missile capabilities pose a threat to Europe. Several European countries have also accused Iran of involvement in attacks and alleged plots targeting Jewish sites across the continent.

Meanwhile, Iran’s armed forces issued another warning on Saturday, saying that any fresh US attack would expand the scope of the war.

In a post on X, Iranian Army spokesman Mohammad Akraminia said, “If the US president, under pressure from the Zionists and to satisfy them, once again engages in regional adventurism, the flames of war will undoubtedly spread across a much wider geographical area.”

Source: Arab News