Iran threatens "destructive" offensive if US airstrikes continue

Iran will transition from defensive deterrence to a phase of destructive offensive operations if American military strikes continue for another two to three days, a senior Iranian military official warned Friday, July 17.

Mohsen Rezaei, military adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, stated on state-run television that regional US military assets and personnel would face direct targeting.

"If US attacks continue for the next two to three days, the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran will transition from the stage of deterrence and retaliation to a phase of offensive and complete destruction,"  Rezaei said, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency. 

He added that Tehran's previous restraint was intended to avert broader international conflict, but accused Washington of a "miscalculation" that has compromised regional security. Rezaei further dismissed the American approach of alternating military action with diplomacy as "destructive," promising an escalation in the volume of Iranian drone and missile strikes.

Shortly after the broadcast, US Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed it had conducted its seventh consecutive night of precision airstrikes against targets inside Iran. Using fighter aircraft, naval assets, and unmanned aerial vehicles, US forces targeted underground weapons caches, surveillance networks, maritime infrastructure, and logistics nodes.

"The strikes are designed to continue degrading Iranian military capabilities at the Commander in Chief's direction," CENTCOM stated on social media platform X, noting that the operations simultaneously enforce an ongoing naval blockade of Iranian ports.

The renewed escalation follows the collapse of a Pakistan-mediated memorandum of understanding signed on June 18, which briefly paused a US-Israeli military campaign initiated in late February. Tensions intensified rapidly after July 12, when Tehran declared the Strait of Hormuz closed to commercial traffic, prompting immediate US retaliatory strikes against Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) coastal positions and naval vessels.

By Tamilla Hasanova