Khamenei's comments at the IRGC meeting come despite Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi hailing US Vice President J.D. Vance's letter to Mohsen Rezaei as a 'positive step' towards reopening dialogue.

Khamenei's comments at the IRGC meeting come despite Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi hailing US Vice President J.D. Vance's letter to Mohsen Rezaei as a 'positive step' towards reopening dialogue.

Khamenei's comments at the IRGC meeting come despite Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi hailing US Vice President J.D. Vance's letter to Mohsen Rezaei as a 'positive step' towards reopening dialogue.

Iran Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei on Saturday ordered the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to prepare an "immediate, impactful, and geographically unrestricted response" to any future attacks from the US and Israel.

"He described the 'unity of fronts' as a decisive factor with a strategic impact on shaping the new political and security order in West Asia," the statement from Khamenei's office read.

The comments on "maximum deterrence" came after Khamenei's meeting with the country's top three military commanders—the first publicly disclosed meeting of its kind since the war began about eight months ago, as per an Axios report.

This comes despite Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi hailing US Vice President J.D. Vance's letter to Mohsen Rezaei—the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council—as a "positive step" towards reopening dialogue after peace talks in Qatar took place for more than 12 hours without any results.

“My aide is currently in Qatar to continue consultations. Qatari and Pakistani mediators are continuing consultations regarding our conditions," he told Al Jazeera, adding that the mediators were in the second phase of evaluating nuclear proposals.

This is the latest development in the tensions between Iran and the US, and comes just days after President Donald Trump hinted at possible strikes on Tehran just after the midterms.

In fact, with US-Israel strikes against Iran remaining paused since September 1, the US and Israeli militaries had also developed specific plans for a possible renewal of military action after the November 3 elections, a New York Times report said last week.

The report added that the meeting in Israel between PM Benjamin Netanyahu and US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had even evaluated possible targets including Tehran's energy infrastructure, nuclear facilities, and missile and drone arsenal, with the aim of one more attack on Iran to force them back to the negotiating table.

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