TEHRAN — Iran's military warned on Sunday that any renewed war with the United States could last longer than the conflict that began in February, insisting that President Donald Trump would not determine how or when it ends. Army spokesman Mohammad Akraminia made the remarks in comments carried by Iranian state television, News Central TV reported. 'A potential future war could last longer than previous conflict, and the American president would not be in a position to dictate the timing or the conditions of its conclusion,' Akraminia said. This is Tehran's military answer to the earlier development Awaaz Punjab reported on Saturday: Trump said US forces had knocked out much of Iran's military and nuclear programme but still had 'one or two sites' to take care of, naming the suspected underground complex at Pickaxe Mountain.
Source: News Central TV, Nov 1, 2026
State broadcaster Press TV's Sunday headlines carried the army's warning in stronger terms: any new act of US aggression, it said, will trigger a confrontation no longer restricted to the West Asia region, in line with the recent orders of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, with an immediate and crushing response against US military installations, equipment, forces and interests anywhere at hand. The spokesman said Iran's military is now better equipped, in its bank of targets as well as its defensive and offensive capabilities, and stressed that Iran has moved away from an exclusively defensive military doctrine toward a more aggressive approach, ready to take on threats on multiple fronts. South Korea's Yonhap news agency, reported by Aju Press, carried a similar warning: if the US undertakes new military actions, any accessible US facilities, equipment, troops and interests could become targets, and the response would be immediate, destructive and much broader than before.
Source: Press TV headlines, Nov 1, 2026
Defence Minister Mehrdad Akhlaghi also warned on Sunday that any attack on Iran would trigger a response proportionate to the threat, with significant consequences for those responsible, News Central TV reported. 'Those who pose threats will not dictate the scope, timing, or consequences of Iran's defensive response,' he said. Hossein Mohebbi, spokesman for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), echoed the written message issued a day earlier by Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei: 'In a conflict with America, there are no geographical limitations; a vast theatre has been defined for inflicting damage upon the enemy,' Mohebbi said, according to Iranian state television. On Saturday, Khamenei had told his top military commanders — in his first reported meeting with them since he succeeded his father in March — that any threat must be met with an 'immediate, impactful and geographically unrestricted response', and ordered Iran's target list updated to include all tangible and intangible assets of what he called the American-Zionist enemy.
Source: NRIPage, Nov 1, 2026
The warnings came even as diplomacy continued in parallel. Qatari mediators were in Tehran on Friday and Iranian negotiators met them in Doha on Saturday, while US Vice President JD Vance's letter to Iran's security chief Mohsen Rezaei — who said he had read it and had not yet replied — opened another channel. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Al Jazeera on Saturday that Iran currently has no plans to meet US officials, that Tehran's conditions are clear — including sanctions relief, the release of frozen assets and restored oil waivers — and that talks with Qatari mediators had cut the proposed implementation period for Iran's Strait of Hormuz proposal to two days. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Saturday that Trump has not made a decision about fresh strikes and that Washington remains open to a diplomatic solution.
Source: Wire report via The Good Morning News, Nov 1, 2026
Lakhs of Punjabi and Indian workers live and work across the Gulf states that host US bases and sit along the shipping routes Tehran is threatening. A wider, longer war would hit oil prices — Brent crude settled at almost $118 a barrel on Friday, its highest since April — as well as Gulf flights, shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and the remittances many Punjab households depend on. None of Sunday's statements announced a new operation; they set the terms each side is publicly claiming before the US midterm elections on Tuesday.
What is solid
- Iran's army spokesman, defence minister and IRGC spokesman all warned publicly on Sunday, Nov 1, that a renewed war would be longer, geographically unrestricted and answered on Tehran's timing, not Washington's (News Central TV; Press TV; NRIPage; Yonhap via Aju Press)
- The warnings directly followed Trump's Saturday remarks that one or two Iranian sites — he named Pickaxe Mountain — still had to be 'taken care of', and Mojtaba Khamenei's Saturday order to update Iran's target list (wire reports)
- Diplomacy has not stopped: Qatari and Pakistani mediation continues, Vance's letter has been read in Tehran, and Rubio says no decision on fresh strikes has been taken (wire reports; Press TV)
What is only claimed
- All of Sunday's Iranian claims — a doctrine shift, a bigger target bank, the ability to hit US interests 'anywhere at hand' — are statements by Iranian officials carried by state media; their capability claims have not been independently verified
- Iran denies any nuclear work is carried out at Pickaxe Mountain, which the US describes as a suspected underground nuclear complex; neither side's account of the site has been independently confirmed
- Whether the US actually resumes strikes after the November 3 midterms, or the mediation produces an agreement first, was not known at the time of reporting