On July 17th, local time, Mujtaba, the Supreme Leader of Iran, and his military advisor Mohsen Rezai stated on state television that the US-Iran understanding memorandum is now ineffective. If the United States continues to carry out attacks in the next two or three days, Iran will not be limited to a “retaliatory response based on ‘an eye for an eye’”, but will move into a “full-scale offensive phase”, potentially targeting military bases and personnel outside the United States.
Rezaee listed the American actions that violated the memorandum: Israel did not withdraw its troops from southern Lebanon; the legal navigation channel on the Iranian side of the Strait of Hormuz was opened, but the US created an illegal channel; the US did not respect Iran’s sovereignty and attacked Iranian coastal areas; Iranian assets that were frozen were not unfrozen. He also said that the US military is attacking Iranian infrastructure in a hybrid warfare manner.
Rezaee said that if the United States continues to attack, Iran’s armed forces will move beyond the current ‘deterrence and retaliation’ phase into a ‘full-scale offensive and destruction’ phase. Bases and soldiers outside of the United States will become direct targets of attack.
He also stated that Iran would "not acknowledge any political border" when launching an attack, and warned the United States to anticipate multiple rounds of missile and unmanned aerial vehicle attacks from Iran, as its "attack while negotiating" strategy has been stuck in a deadlock.
Rezaie said that Iran has so far avoided ground attacks and large-scale strikes abroad because it does not want to trigger a broader international security crisis. He added that Iran will not give up the right to seek revenge for its leaders, and he stated that Iran’s future security and stability depend on achieving this goal.
Several hours after his speech, Iran launched attacks on American military targets in Kuwait and Jordan. The Iranian side warned that if the United States used the territory of countries hosting US troops to attack Iran, those countries should expect a “corresponding response”.
Before this attack, the U.S. military launched air strikes against Iran for the seventh consecutive night on Friday. The U.S. Central Command stated that the air strikes were ordered by President Trump, targeting coastal surveillance facilities, anti-aircraft systems, military logistics infrastructure, and naval forces.
Iranian officials and state media claim that the target of the American military attack was civil infrastructure. According to a report by IRNA on the 17th, the attack resulted in at least 8 deaths and 20 injuries. At least 6 bridges were targeted, including one that was under construction.
