In first formal meeting with military chiefs, Mojtaba Khamenei warns US and Israel against fresh attacks on Iran
Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has warned the United States and Israel not to launch fresh attacks on Iran. The warning came in response to threats from Washington and Tel Aviv that they may strike Iran again after elections in their own countries.
The US midterm elections will be held on November 3. President Donald Trump has threatened renewed military action against Iran after that vote. Last weekend the US president said he was thinking of finishing Iran off completely.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for his part, has spoken of a 'historic' opportunity to topple Iran's government. Israel held elections on October 27, but no party or alliance won a majority in parliament on its own, and a government has yet to be formed.
In a statement, the Iranian government said that at a meeting with top military commanders on Saturday, Mojtaba Khamenei said: 'Any threat, of whatever level or type, must be answered immediately and effectively. And that response will not observe any specific geographical boundary.'
It was Mojtaba Khamenei's first formal meeting with the top officers of Iran's armed forces. Those present included the armed forces chief of staff, Ali Abdollahi, army chief Amir Hatami, and the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Ahmad Vahidi.
Mojtaba Khamenei took over as Iran's supreme leader in March, after Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed on February 28 in a US-Israeli attack. He has not been seen in public since. According to media reports, Mojtaba was also wounded in the February 28 attack.
At Saturday's meeting, he also ordered the military commanders to update Iran's list of targets, saying 'all visible and invisible assets of the American and Zionist enemies' must be added to it.
The war began with the US and Israeli attack on Iran on February 28. In response, Iran struck US assets in various Middle Eastern countries. Tit-for-tat attacks between Iran and the United States are currently halted, but diplomatic efforts are under way to prevent the war from starting again.
As part of those efforts, Qatari mediators arrived in Tehran on Friday. US Vice President JD Vance has also sent a letter to Iran's security chief Mohsen Rezaei. The Wall Street Journal reported last Wednesday that Vance sent the letter on Trump's instructions, in an initiative aimed at restarting talks and averting a new US attack on Iran. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has confirmed that Iran received the letter.
On Saturday, however, Araghchi said: 'There is currently no plan for any meeting with US officials.' The same day, Iranian army spokesman Mohammad Akaraminia said renewed hostilities would only expand the scope of the war, adding that 'the flames of war will undoubtedly spread to a much larger geographical area.'
