3 min readJul 18, 2026 03:13 PM IST
First published on: Jul 18, 2026 at 03:11 PM IST
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Iran warned Friday that it could abandon its current strategy of retaliatory strikes and launch a broader offensive against US forces if Washington continues its military campaign for another two to three days, marking one of Tehran’s strongest escalation threats since the conflict began.
‘Diplomacy and negotiations are over’
Mohsen Rezaee, a senior military adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei and a top IRGC official, posted the warning on X.
Senior Iranian official Mohsen Rezaee:
If U.S. attacks continue over the next two to three days, the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran will move beyond the stage of deterrence and retaliation and enter the phase of “offense and complete destruction,” such that U.S.… pic.twitter.com/T8E9IVCfQw
— Clash Report (@clashreport) July 17, 2026
He said diplomacy and negotiations, along with the current phase of war, were finished, and that if the US continued strikes for another two to three days, Iran would move into what he called the stage of the enemy’s destruction.
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He added that Iran would stop limiting its response to tit-for-tat retaliation, warning that no political border would offer safety from Iran’s forces going forward.
‘No political border will provide security’
Rezaee said if Iran activates this stage, it will no longer settle for matching US strikes and will instead pursue American bases and troops beyond their host countries’ borders directly. He said Iran’s attacks would grow more intense in the coming days, framing the current standoff as a shift away from the “war and negotiation” approach the US had been pursuing.
Why he warned now
The remarks follow the collapse of a 14-point memorandum of understanding that had briefly framed talks between the US and Iran. They also come as both countries continue trading strikes on each other’s military assets across the region, with Washington saying its goal is to weaken Iran’s military capability and Tehran promising further retaliation against US forces and bases nearby.
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The US launched a fresh round of strikes on Iran Friday, marking the seventh consecutive night of the campaign. US Central Command said on X that the strikes, launched at 3 p.m. ET, were ordered by the commander-in-chief to keep degrading Iran’s military capabilities.
CENTCOM launched a round of strikes against Iran at 3 p.m. ET today for the seventh consecutive night. The strikes are designed to continue degrading Iranian military capabilities at the Commander in Chief’s direction.
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) July 17, 2026
Iranian state media reported three explosions in Sirik, a city in Iran’s Hormozgan province, around the same time.
