Iran Supreme Leader warns US against fresh strikes and vows unrestricted response

BBC News reported that Iran's Supreme Leader Mujtaba Khamenei warned the United States against launching fresh attacks as speculation grew that the Middle East war would resume. In a statement posted on his Telegram channel, Khamenei said that if the enemies once again launched military or terrorist attacks, it was Iran's armed forces and nation that would determine the time and conditions for ending them.

BBC News reported that Khamenei met top military commanders on Saturday. He ordered them to meet any US or Israeli attack with what was called a geographically unrestricted response.

According to BBC News, Khamenei has not appeared in public since the attack that killed his father, the then Supreme Leader, at the start of the US-Israel war with Iran in February.

BBC News spoke to Siavash Ardalan from its Persian service. He said the message came after weeks in which a US or Israeli strike looked very likely. He said the Supreme Leader was signalling that Iran was ready to respond.

Ardalan said the phrase about no geographical boundaries could refer first to Iran's missile range. The range is 2,000 kilometres, enough to cover Israel and the entire Middle East region. He added that Khamenei might also be instructing Iran's air and defence industry to extend that range, something his father had expressly prohibited to avoid making Europeans feel threatened.

In the BBC News interview, Ardalan said the phrase could also point to cyber attacks or other attacks in Europe targeting US assets. He said non-material assets could include data centres of US companies in the Middle East and residential areas where military staff are stationed.

According to BBC News, Ardalan said Iranians expected a strike and treated it as an existential war. He said they expected an intensive attack over a few days targeting infrastructure and power plants, and that Iran was willing to inflict equal damage on countries around the region.