Supreme leader says US ‘would never forget’ the response Iran will give

WEB DESK: Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei on Saturday warned that the United States would receive a response “it will never forget” following the latest US strikes, which Iranian authorities said targeted at least 95 key sites in Tehran and surrounding areas.

In a statement, Khamenei said the Iranian people were outraged and demanded justice for his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who Iran says was killed in a joint US-Israeli strike on February 28, triggering a fresh round of hostilities between the two sides.

He accused the United States of repeatedly violating the memorandum of understanding, saying Washington could not be trusted to honour its commitments.

Khamenei said the repeated violations had exposed US President Donald Trump as lacking credibility on the international stage.

He also claimed that the funeral of the “martyred leader” had left Iran’s enemies “angry and fearful,” reiterating that Tehran would deliver a response the United States “would never forget.”

The Iranian supreme leader further alleged that coercion, authoritarianism and expansionism were central elements of US foreign policy.

Calling for national unity, Khamenei urged Iranians to place their trust in the country’s leadership and state institutions. He also advised the public to exercise restraint when criticising government officials and stressed that both the people and the authorities should avoid division and confrontation.

Islamabad MoU ‘suspended’

Earlier, Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said that Iran suspended its commitments to the Islamabad MoU on Saturday as the United States attacks continue, Al Jazeera reports, citing Iran’s Fars news outlet.

According to the deputy foreign minister, the decision to suspend the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding was made after the US continued its strikes that targeted key infrastructure in the country.

“We have also suspended our commitments; we are not implementing them, and we are busy defending the country,” he says.

🎥 غریب‌آبادی: تعهداتمان در تفاهمنامه اسلام‌آباد را متوقف کرده‌ایم

معاون حقوقی وزارت خارجه: آمریکا تمام تعهداتش در چهارچوب یادداشت تفاهم اسلام‌آباد را زیر پا گذاشته و متوقف کرده است.

ما هم تعهدات خود را متوقف کرده‌ایم، در حال اجرای آن‌ها نیستیم و مشغول دفاع از کشوریم. pic.twitter.com/OEn89rB0EC

— خبرگزاری فارس (@FarsNews_Agency) July 18, 2026

The United States has targeted at least 95 locations in Iran’s Khuzestan province during the past 10 days of the ongoing war, the province’s deputy governor Valiollah Hayati said, according to Al Jazeera.

Hayati told Iran’s Tasnim news agency that US strikes hit 12 counties across Khuzestan, calling the attacks evidence of what he described as the “boundless criminality of the enemy.”

Earlier, Iranian Supreme Leader’s adviser Mohsen Rezaei had warned that Iran would “sound the drums of war” if US attacks continued for another two to three days.

In a statement, Rezaei said the policy of pursuing negotiations and war simultaneously had come to an end, adding that continued US strikes would prompt Iran to respond with a full-scale war posture.

Meanwhile, Brigadier General Majid Mousavi, commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Aerospace Force, said Iran’s retaliatory operations would continue until the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz is lifted.

Mousavi said the entire Iranian nation was standing united against the enemy, with every part of the country, from Tehran to the south, holding equal importance. He warned that any attacks on civilians or infrastructure would be met with a stronger response.