Khamenei Orders Iran Military Response Without Geographic Limits

Newsweek · Hollie Silverman · 2026-10-31 16:21 UTC

Amid the ongoing war, the country’s supreme leader said that “any kind and level of threat” should face an immediate response.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei has ordered military commanders to update target lists of U.S. and Israeli assets and called for an immediate armed response to any renewed threat, state media reported Saturday, amid growing concerns over a potential escalation in the regional conflict.

The directive comes as regional mediators race to broker a diplomatic solution between Washington and Tehran, eight months after a joint U.S.-Israeli bombing campaign sparked full-scale hostilities. The opening strikes killed Iran's longtime Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, whose son, Mojtaba Khamenei, was subsequently selected as the country's new supreme leader.

In response, Iran and its aligned regional forces have engaged in a campaign of missile, drone, and maritime strikes against neighboring Gulf states hosting U.S. military bases and commercial shipping lanes in the Strait of Hormuz.

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