Iran Supreme Leader senior adviser warned that if Iran is attacked by the US again, the confrontation will expand to new fronts, according to Press TV

Rhetoric of this kind from officials close to the Supreme Leader is a recurring feature of the Iran-US escalation cycle: warnings issued through state-affiliated outlets tend to function as deterrence signalling rather than operational guidance, and in past episodes of this kind the market-relevant distinction has been between declaratory threats and the specific follow-ons that mark actual escalation, namely attacks on shipping in the Gulf, proxy activity across the region, or strikes on energy infrastructure. The transmission channel that has historically mattered is crude and freight: even without physical disruption, confrontation language of this type has tended to re-price the geopolitical premium in oil and lift tanker insurance costs on Gulf routes, with the move unwinding quickly when no kinetic follow-through materialises. The conditional framing here, a response contingent on a further US attack, places it in the reactive deterrence category rather than signalling imminent unilateral action. Worth watching is whether the language is echoed by operational commanders rather than political advisers, and whether there is movement in shipping behaviour or force posture in the Strait of Hormuz, which on previous occasions has been the tell separating rhetoric from intent. As a single-source state media report, the signal is directional only.