Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has issued a stark warning to Washington:
any U.S.-initiated war would not remain limited, but would likely spill across the region, drawing in multiple actors and escalating rapidly.
The message underscores how fragile the Middle East remains. With U.S. forces, allied bases, and critical energy routes spread across the region, even a single strike could trigger chain reactions of retaliation. History suggests conflicts here rarely stay contained once they begin.
From Tehran’s perspective, this is about deterrence. By emphasizing the scale of potential consequences, Iran is signaling that escalation would come at a high cost — not just militarily, but economically. Such warnings tend to ripple through markets, lifting oil prices and unsettling global risk sentiment.
This isn’t panic — yet.
But it is a reminder that the margin for error is thin, and the next move on either side carries outsized risks.
