Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has warned the United States and Israel against launching new attacks, telling senior military commanders that any threat must be met with an immediate, impactful and geographically unrestricted response. In a statement issued on Saturday, he ordered commanders to update Iran's target list to include all types of tangible and intangible assets belonging to what he called the American-Zionist enemy.

The warning comes as both countries face elections that could shape the conflict. President Donald Trump has suggested he could launch fresh military action after the United States holds its midterm elections on Tuesday, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has spoken of a historic, one-time opportunity to topple the Iranian government. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Saturday that Trump had not yet made a decision, adding that if there is a diplomatic solution, Washington would be open to it.

Diplomacy continues alongside the warnings

Iranian negotiators held talks in Doha on Saturday with Qatari mediators, Reuters reported, following more than 12 hours of discussions on Friday between Iranian and Qatari envoys in Tehran. Diplomats are trying to avert a new outbreak of fighting after the midterms. Vice President JD Vance has also written to Iran's security chief Mohsen Rezaei, and Iran has been proposing its own seven-day plan since September, which Reuters says calls for Washington to lift a blockade of Iranian ports, unfreeze assets and approve an Iranian-backed route through the Strait of Hormuz.

The war began on 28 February with US-Israeli strikes on Iran. Khamenei has not appeared in public since replacing his father, who was slain at the war's outset, according to Reuters. No new attack has been announced, and the latest statements sit alongside continuing mediation, not in place of it.