IRGC Threatens Full-Scale Offensive as Iran Declares Peace Deal Void

Mohsen Rezaei, an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps official and military adviser to Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, warned Friday that the United States faces “full-scale offensive operations” if airstrikes against Iran continue for “another two or three days,” according to a statement carried by state-owned Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) and reported by APA.az.

“No political border will be secure against Iran’s offensive forces,” Rezaei said. He also demanded that Washington pay financial reparations for what Iranian officials have characterized as attacks on civilian infrastructure — a demand the United States has not acknowledged.

The warning came on the seventh consecutive night of US airstrikes on Iran. US Central Command confirmed completing the latest wave, which according to Iranian state media struck six road bridges in southern Iran, including targets in Hormozgan province along the Strait of Hormuz. Residents in Yazd, a city in central Iran, reported five explosions in the early hours of Saturday, and three more were heard in the port city of Sirik.

MOU Declared Void

Rezaei’s escalatory language follows Iran formally declaring the June 17 memorandum of understanding with Washington void. Al Jazeera reported on July 15 that Tehran described the conflict as an “existential war” and said it had “no reason to continue adhering” to the terms of the interim peace agreement.

Iran’s top negotiator, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, declared that Iran’s armed forces now have “complete freedom of action” against “enemy aggression,” according to ABC News, following a wave of US strikes that killed seven Iranian troops earlier in the week.

The June MOU had committed both sides to a 60-day ceasefire and set out terms for negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program, sanctions relief, and conditions for restoring normal transit through the Strait of Hormuz. The agreement, reached after two months of Qatari- and Pakistani-mediated talks, also included commitments — disputed by both sides — on IAEA access to Iran’s bombed enrichment facilities. Tehran’s position is that resumed US strikes voided those commitments first. Washington has not formally acknowledged the MOU as invalid and has said it remains open to talks.

Vice President JD Vance signaled the US maintains a dual-track posture, saying publicly that engaging with Iran remains “essential” and that those who reject negotiations offer no realistic alternative to “endless and ineffective bombing” — language designed to hold the diplomatic option open without conditioning any military halt.

IRGC Broadens Strike Range

In parallel with Rezaei’s warning, the IRGC escalated counter-strikes across six Gulf states, targeting US military assets in Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Jordan and Syria. Coverage of the full scope of those operations is in IRGC Claims Strikes on US Bases Across Seven Countries. Claimed targets included weapons depots and HIMARS launchers in Kuwait, US helicopters and reconnaissance aircraft at Sakhir airbase in Bahrain, and air-control radar systems in Oman. The IRGC also claimed hits on Al Udeid Air Base near Doha — Washington’s largest base in the region — where explosions were heard before dawn Friday.

A separate statement from a senior IRGC general, reported by Tasnim News, vowed that retaliatory operations would continue “until calm returns to southern Iran” — language that sets a condition the US campaign has not yet met, and that implicitly requires a US halt before Iran would stand down.

The competing conditions describe a gap that Qatar and Pakistan, both active as intermediaries, have so far been unable to bridge. Any resumption of diplomatic engagement would need both sides to agree on the sequence: the US stopping strikes, Iran halting Gulf operations, and some framework for resuming nuclear inspections — each step conditioned on the other.

Hormuz and Markets

The seventh night of strikes continued against a backdrop of severe disruption in the Strait of Hormuz. Transit volume through the waterway has fallen to roughly 11 percent of pre-conflict levels, with approximately 10 ships per day crossing against a normal volume of about 88. Iran has threatened to attack any commercial vessel using the US-escorted Omani coastal lane rather than a northern route through Iranian territorial waters — a condition that no major tanker operator or war-risk insurer has accepted.

The market response to seven days of conflict was a split: Brent crude ended the week at $85.95 per barrel, up more than 10 percent over seven days, while WTI settled at $82.15, reflecting sustained Hormuz supply risk. Gold tracked lower, to around $3,991 per troy ounce — a move analysts attributed to a reduction in tail-risk premium, as the sustained but bounded US campaign reduced expectations of an abrupt conflict widening, even as oil supply concerns remained elevated.

Nuclear Verification Unresolved

Any diplomatic path back to a ceasefire framework depends in part on what Iran does with its nuclear program during the current fighting. Iran’s parliament has formally barred IAEA inspectors from accessing the bombed enrichment facilities at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan. IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi has stated that inspections “are going to happen” but has set no public deadline and has not escalated the matter to the UN Security Council’s Board of Governors.

The combination of a voided MOU, an IRGC warning of imminent full-scale operations, and seven consecutive nights of US airstrikes positions the next 48 to 72 hours as the critical window Rezaei’s statement references — the period in which both sides will determine whether the conflict expands beyond its current geographic and operational scope, or whether intermediaries can establish a new floor for de-escalation before options narrow further.