Iran's Supreme National Security Council Secretary says diplomatic policy will follow the Supreme Leader’s guidance, prioritising stronger deterrence, resistance to enemy coercion and an immediate, decisive response to any aggression

• Iran will not back down if its people's rights or interests are threatened.

Statements of this kind from Iran's security establishment are a recurring fixture and, on their own, have historically carried little signal: the language of deterrence, resistance and decisive response is standard formulation rather than an escalation marker, and markets have typically faded such rhetoric absent a change in posture on the ground. The read-through that has mattered in past episodes is whether rhetorical hardening coincides with concrete steps, enrichment activity, proxy operations, or moves affecting shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, since it is the physical risk to crude transit and the insurance and freight premia attached to it, not the communiques, that has transmitted into oil prices. The actor here is notable: the SNSC Secretary speaks close to the apex of the system, so the framing of policy as following the Supreme Leader's guidance is a statement of continuity rather than a new position. The distinction worth drawing is between deterrent messaging aimed at domestic and regional audiences and actual signalling of intent, which in prior episodes has come through actions or back-channel shifts rather than public statements. Follow-ons worth noting are any parallel movement in nuclear file diplomacy, sanctions enforcement rhetoric from Washington, and tanker market pricing in the Gulf. As it stands, this is boilerplate.