Iran is said to be ready with a more devastating response to US attacks and has preserved a significant portion of missile and drone capabilities and its weapons production capacity, and is more prepared than before, according to a report cited by IRIB

Iran is said to be ready with a more devastating response to US attacks and has preserved a significant portion of missile and drone capabilities and its weapons production capacity, and is more prepared than before, according to a report cited by IRIB.

Statements of this kind from Iranian state media sit in a long pattern of deterrence signalling that follows strikes on Iranian assets or personnel: rhetoric escalates first, and the question has historically been whether it is followed by a direct state-level response, a proxy action, or a calibrated retaliation designed to satisfy domestic audiences without triggering a wider exchange. On previous occasions the distinguishing tell has been the channel of any reply: attacks routed through proxies or confined to military targets have tended to fade from markets within sessions, while anything touching Gulf energy infrastructure or shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has produced durable repricing, transmitting through the crude risk premium, tanker freight and war-risk insurance rather than headline sentiment alone. The sourcing here matters: assertions of preserved capability carried by the state broadcaster are a standard feature of Iranian messaging after absorbing strikes and carry limited information about actual intent. The proximate follow-ons are the character of official responses from Washington and Tehran, force posture and tanker traffic in the Gulf, and whether rhetoric hardens into a specified threat with a timeline. Episodes of this kind have tended to see crude and gold carry a premium while the threat remains ambiguous, with the premium unwinding once the response is defined and contained.