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Seyed M. Marandi: Iran’s Supreme Leader Orders Military to Strike W/O Geographic Limits (Transcript) 

In this interview, Professor Seyed Mohammad Marandi joins Nima Alkhorshid to discuss Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei’s meeting with senior military commanders and his order that any threat against Iran be met with an immediate response without geographical limitations. Marandi explains why he believes the next phase of the war will be decisive, why Iran will not negotiate its nuclear program until the US implements the MOU, and what a new war could mean for the Persian Gulf regimes, the Strait of Hormuz and the global economy. Read the full transcript of this interview below:

The Supreme Leader’s Meeting With Senior Commanders

NIMA ALKHORSHID: (00:00:05 – 00:00:16): Hi everybody, today’s Saturday, October 31st, 2026, and our dear friend Professor Marandi is here with us. Welcome back, sir.

SEYED M. MARANDI: (00:00:18 – 00:00:30): Thank you very much for having me. It’s always a great pleasure and a great honor. October the 31st, that means we’re very, very close. To whatever is going to happen.

NIMA ALKHORSHID: (00:00:30 – 00:01:03): Yeah, and then let me start with the senior commanders going and talking with the Iranian Supreme Leader for the first time after— in the aftermath of those attacks on Iran. And one of the main topics that was discussed during the meeting was the maximum deterrence, how Iran can achieve that and can establish that as time goes by with this war. What was the main point, considering that, between the two sides?

SEYED M. MARANDI: (00:01:07 – 00:02:29): It’s an important meeting coming at a time when the expectation is that there will be a major assault against the Iranian people by the Netanyahu and Trump regimes. He basically said that if there’s a— if the war starts, we will dictate how things play out and how it comes to an end. It won’t be the Americans. And he said that there are no limitations with regards to geography in Iran’s resistance.

He spoke of the public role and their importance, and he said that this war will lead to effectively— and correct me where I’m wrong because I read this a few hours ago— he said that this will effectively lead to the expulsion of the Americans and that we will have a new order in the region that will be hopefully led by the nations of the region. I hope, I think that’s more or less what he said. I think people, I did tweet it, so if your viewers are interested, they can go to my Twitter account and take a look.

NIMA ALKHORSHID: (00:02:30 – 00:03:09): It says that “the intelligence combat readiness for a powerful confrontation with enemies to be among the requirements of maximum deterrence and decreed that any level of and type of threat must be met with an immediate and effective response without geographical limitations.” Here is what the first part was. This, the second, I’m reading your tweet. I’m reading your tweet. I think you translated that into English. And he says—

SEYED M. MARANDI: (00:03:09 – 00:03:14): Well, I didn’t translate it. I used AI. I used DeepSeek. I cheated. But yes.

NIMA ALKHORSHID: (00:03:15 – 00:03:41): Yeah. But it says, “Ayatollah Seyed Mojtaba Khamenei stated, if the enemies once again start military and terrorist attacks, it is the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Iranian nation that will determine the time and conditions of its end.” This part is important together with the first part. What is your interpretation of that?

“This Is the Decisive Phase of the War”

SEYED M. MARANDI: (00:03:42 – 00:07:48): In other words, if the Americans think that they can come in for let’s say three days or seven days or ten days and carry out an operation and walk away, that’s not going to happen. This is the decisive phase of the war for the Iranians. This is the most important phase because Iran will. Break the siege in this phase. In other words, Iran will not end this phase until it gets what it wants. And come what may, the Iranians are going to hammer the Americans, their regional proxies.

You saw, I’m sure, last night a senior Iranian intelligence or military official spoke to Al-Mayadeen television. Al-Mayadeen, by the way, I think is a— it’s important to follow them both whether on Instagram or Twitter or on YouTube or wherever else they may be. Al-Mayadeen is an Arabic channel, but they also have an English website and an English Twitter account and YouTube account, because in the days ahead a lot of the news will probably be coming from Al-Mayadeen.

A senior Iranian official told Al-Mayadeen that Iran is going to hit very hard. This is going to be very different from before. And that official warned the regimes in the region, in the Persian Gulf, that their glass palaces, that their palaces are made of glass, which I think is a clear indication of where things can go. That basically means that these regimes which are bound to the United States, which are co-conspirators against the Iranians, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, and so on, all of them, Kuwait and Bahrain and the others like Jordan, and of course the Israeli regime. But these regimes that try to pretend that they’re neutral, they are acting as enemies of Iran, and they’ve always been acting as enemies of Iran throughout these 2 wars. The 12-day war in this war.

And so the statement by that senior official to the— they also have a Telegram channel, Al-Mayadeen. I think that your viewers can find it there. It’s an important statement made. I think it’s a very important statement that was made. It’s basically saying that Iran is going to be— is going to hit very hard this time around. It’s going to be different than before. It’s going to be very different from the 40-day war. Let alone what came afterwards.

So, I believe that this is going to be the decisive phase, the phase where the Iranians will force the Americans to end the siege and force the Americans to back down.