Khamenei orders ‘unrestricted’ response to any attack as Hormuz tanker fires lift oil

Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei on Saturday ordered the country's armed forces to answer any US or Israeli attack with what his office called a "geographically unrestricted response", after Iran said four oil tankers had caught fire in the Strait of Hormuz and oil prices climbed to their highest level since April.

The order came at a meeting with senior military commanders, according to a written statement on Khamenei's website reported by Asharq Al-Awsat and TRT World. It lands three days before the US midterm elections on November 3, as Qatari and Pakistani mediators try to revive talks between Washington and Tehran, and as Iranian officials warn of renewed strikes.

What happened

"Any level or type of threat must be met with an immediate, impactful, and geographically unrestricted response," the statement said, according to Asharq Al-Awsat. TRT World reported that Khamenei issued what his office described as strategic directives at the meeting and that further details would be published later. The statement did not name a specific new threat.

In a separate message on Telegram, Khamenei said that if Iran's enemies launched military or terrorist attacks again, it would be Iran's armed forces and people who decided when and how the fighting ended, TRT World reported.

Other officials echoed the warning. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned of an "earth-shattering blow" if Iran was attacked again, Al Jazeera reported. Army spokesman Mohammad Akraminia wrote on X that if the US president embarked on more "regional adventurism", the war would spread across a much wider area, according to Asharq Al-Awsat.

US President Donald Trump has said the war with Iran will be wrapped up soon, Al Jazeera reported.

Tankers on fire in Hormuz

The warning follows a series of incidents in the strait. On Friday, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy said four oil tankers had caught fire and exploded while trying to use what it called "unauthorised routes" through the waterway, Reuters reported. It said the fourth, a tanker carrying more than two million barrels of crude, had hit a mine and was burning, according to Reuters and Anadolu. Reuters said it could not immediately verify the claim, and none of the tankers has been publicly named.

A day earlier the IRGC had said three tankers exploded after striking mines on what it called the unauthorised southern route, and warned that this route "is mined", AFP reported. Iran says the vessels switched off their navigation systems and ignored radio warnings.

The accounts do not all agree on the cause:

- Oman's Maritime Security Centre said on Friday that a Panama-flagged crude tanker, identified by MarineTraffic as RITI, "was targeted", causing a fire on board, and that Oman's navy evacuated its 25 crew, according to AFP and AP. It did not say who targeted it. - The UK Maritime Trade Operations centre (UKMTO) reported a vessel hit by an "unknown projectile" about 40 nautical miles south of Iran's Lavan Island, causing a fire; the crew were reported safe. In a separate report cited by Reuters, it said a tanker was hit by explosive devices attached by a small boat, which maritime sources called the first successful limpet-mine attack in the strait since the war began. - It is not clear whether these vessels are among the four the IRGC described.

The US military's Central Command (CENTCOM) says it has cleared mines from the primary transit routes. The IRGC disputes that. "Prove your Hormuz mine-clearing claim with independent evidence," IRGC spokesman Hossein Mohebi wrote on X on Thursday, according to AFP.

Oil prices jump

Brent crude for December delivery, which expired on Friday, settled at $117.64 a barrel, up 2.4% on the day, Reuters reported; the more active January contract ended at $113.43. US crude (WTI) settled at $104.12. Oil closed at its highest level since the end of April.

Over October, Brent rose 13.6% and WTI 15.2%, according to Reuters. DTN, citing UKMTO, reported 43 security incidents involving commercial shipping in the Gulf region in October, 30 of them direct strikes on tankers, the highest monthly count since the war began.

"Traders will remain focused on oil flows out of the Middle East and the likely escalation by US and allied forces," Dennis Kissler of BOK Financial told Reuters. Indian markets reopen on Monday.

Background

The war began on February 28, when US and Israeli air strikes killed Iran's then Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and senior commanders. Iran largely shut the Strait of Hormuz, through which a large share of the world's seaborne oil normally passes, and the United States later blockaded Iranian ports.

A ceasefire was reached in April, and on June 17 Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian signed a memorandum on ending the war and the blockades. Implementation stalled, and shipping through the strait remains about 70% below pre-war levels, according to UKMTO figures cited by Al Jazeera.

India has a direct stake: Indian seafarers have been among those killed in attacks on merchant ships in the Gulf this year, and a large part of India's crude oil and cooking gas imports normally passes through Hormuz.

What happens next

Diplomacy is still running alongside the threats. A Qatari delegation held talks in Tehran on Friday, and Qatar and Pakistan have been mediating, though the talks have yet to produce a lasting agreement, Asharq Al-Awsat reported. US Vice President JD Vance earlier wrote to Iran's security chief at Trump's direction to try to revive negotiations; Iran has confirmed receiving the letter but has not announced a reply.

Analysts at Saxo Bank said oil could be more volatile over the next two weeks because of Israel's recent election and the US midterms, Reuters reported.

Key numbers

$117.64: Brent (December) settlement on Friday, the highest since April

4: tankers the IRGC said on Friday had caught fire in the strait

25: crew evacuated by Oman's navy from the burning tanker RITI

43: shipping security incidents in the Gulf in October, according to UKMTO figures reported by DTN