On the sixth day of the ongoing conflict between Iran and Israel, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei delivered a forceful message through state television, warning the United States of the dire consequences of any military involvement.
“Any form of U.S. military intervention will undoubtedly lead to irreparable damage,” stated the cleric in a statement read by a presenter, not by Khamenei himself, according to Ghoncheh Habibiazad, a journalist for BBC Persian.
Khamenei emphasized that “those who truly understand Iran, its people, and its history never speak to this nation through threats, because Iranians do not surrender.”
His warning came shortly after CBS News, the BBC’s U.S. partner, reported that President Donald Trump is “considering” joining Israel’s attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities. One potential target is the Fordow uranium enrichment plant, deeply buried underground and only vulnerable to a 13,600-kilogram bomb currently in the U.S. arsenal.
On Tuesday, Trump met with his national security team for nearly 90 minutes in the White House Situation Room to assess possible next steps. According to CBS News, his advisers remain divided on how to proceed. That same day, the president posted a message on social media demanding Iran’s “unconditional surrender.”
Official figures reveal the scale of the conflict’s toll: at least 224 people have died in Iran, the vast majority civilians, as a result of Israeli strikes, according to Iran’s Ministry of Health. In Israel, authorities reported 24 fatalities due to Iranian counterattacks.
The crisis has reached a critical juncture. Trump’s decision—whether to intervene or not—could shape the future of the Middle East.
Khamenei’s televised message dashed any lingering hopes that the Islamic Republic might be seeking peace. On the contrary, the elderly ayatollah threw down the gauntlet, warning of severe retaliation if the U.S. joins the Israeli offensive.
Despite suffering heavy blows—not only from continued airstrikes but also from the loss or weakening of regional allies in Lebanon, Syria, and Gaza—Iran retains the capacity to inflict serious damage.
Should the U.S. launch a direct attack, Iran’s most likely targets would be American military bases scattered throughout the Gulf region. The U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet headquarters in Mina Salman, Bahrain, would be an obvious target, along with American facilities in Iraq and Kuwait.
But it may not stop there. The massive drone strike on Saudi Arabia’s petrochemical industry in September 2019 served as a fiery lesson in the vulnerability of the Gulf’s economic infrastructure to Iranian missiles and drones.
If Iran’s regime feels its survival is at risk—or deems neighboring Gulf countries complicit—it may strike desalination plants, oil export terminals, or even mine the strategic Strait of Hormuz, potentially cutting off nearly 30% of the world’s oil supply.
Meanwhile, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed that two Iranian centrifuge production facilities had been struck by Israeli forces.
According to IAEA Director Rafael Grossi, the centrifuges at Iran’s underground Natanz enrichment plant were likely “severely damaged, if not completely destroyed,” due to power outages caused by the attack. An above-ground facility was “completely destroyed,” and the electrical infrastructure suffered “near-total damage.”
Grossi added that four buildings at the Isfahan nuclear site were also damaged, though visible damage at the Fordow underground enrichment plant was “very limited, if any.”
Israel claimed responsibility for the attacks, stating that it had killed nine Iranian nuclear scientists in an effort to prevent Tehran from developing nuclear weapons.
Centrifuges are machines that enrich uranium, a process that can be used for both nuclear power generation and weapons development.
