Iran has vowed retaliation if the United States follows through on threats of new attacks against the country. Retaliation, in diplomatic terms, means a counterstrike triggered by an adversary's action rather than a first move. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi delivered that message publicly, putting it on the official record.
What Araqchi said
The warning is explicitly conditional in structure. Iran's response, Araqchi stated, depends on whether the United States acts on its stated threats. That structure is the grammar of deterrence: announce the cost before the triggering act occurs, in the hope that the other side stops short.
A foreign minister-level statement carries distinct weight. Araqchi speaks for the Iranian state. This is an official position, not a signal passed through back channels or attributed to a lower-ranking official.
The language of the warning
Araqchi's choice to describe US statements as "threats" does specific rhetorical work. It frames Iran as responding to provocation rather than initiating. That framing positions the country as the reactive party in any escalation that follows.
Conditional warnings of this kind also address domestic audiences at the same time as foreign governments. They communicate that a leadership can push back without claiming the role of aggressor.
What the statement does not say
The public statement, as reported, does not specify what form Iran's response would take. It names no particular US threat and sets no timeline for action.
Those omissions are not incidental. Keeping the method of retaliation unspecified gives Iran flexibility to calibrate any response. It also preserves strategic ambiguity: an adversary that cannot predict the form of a response must account for a wider range of possible costs.
What Araqchi has put on the record is direct: Iran will act if the United States proceeds.