Iran’s supreme leader warned Saturday that his country will respond immediately to any new attack by the United States or Israel, as the Iran war threatens to restart after Tuesday’s midterm elections. Mojtaba Khamenei said that if the two countries strike again, Iran alone will decide when and on what terms the fighting ends.
The supreme leader is the most powerful person in Iran, with final say over the military and foreign policy, above the country’s president. Mojtaba Khamenei took the role on March 8, after his father, Ali Khamenei, who had ruled Iran since 1989, was killed in the first U.S. and Israeli strikes of the war on February 28.
Iran’s army issued its own warning that any new U.S. attack would only spread the war wider. Iranian leaders have also threatened U.S. military bases and American allies in the Middle East, and they have warned they could go after new targets, including the undersea cables that carry internet traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.
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The warnings come as Trump has signaled that strikes could resume once voters go to the polls. On October 8, Trump said there would be no new attacks on Iran before the November 3 midterms. At a rally in Lubbock, Texas, on Tuesday, he told the crowd, “You’ll see Iran in a couple of weeks, if you don’t mind.” Asked whether more strikes could come after the election, he said “anything’s possible.” In a Fox News interview last Sunday, Trump said he was deciding whether to “make a deal” with Iran or “finish it off,” adding, “It’s getting to be decision time.” He named Pickaxe Mountain, a deeply buried site tied to Iran’s nuclear program, as a possible target.
On Saturday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Trump has not made a final decision on new strikes. Fox News has reported that Trump has called off major strikes six times since July. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called the current moment a historic opportunity to topple Iran’s government.
The Iran war has already reshaped the region and the world’s energy supply. Iran has mostly shut down the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula that a huge share of the world’s oil passes through. The U.S. answered with a blockade of Iran’s ports, which has led to medicine shortages and soaring prices inside Iran. The war has cost the U.S. an estimated $47 billion so far.
Behind the scenes, other countries are working to stop the fighting from starting again. Mediators from Qatar are in Tehran, and Pakistan is also helping broker talks. Vice President JD Vance has reportedly sent a letter to Mohsen Rezaei, the head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council. Iran has ruled out direct talks with the U.S. for now, and Khamenei did not mention the negotiations in Saturday’s statement.
Voters head to the polls Tuesday, and whatever Trump decides after that could come within days.
