Escalating Threats

Iran: "We Can Launch Missiles Today"

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf boasts at ceremony honoring Iran-Iraq War veterans: We can launch our missiles today, without any limitation, toward any target we choose

Gila Isaacson

SEP 22, 2026 13:00

2 min read

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, speaker of Iran's parliament, delivered a defiant speech Tuesday at a ceremony honoring veterans of the Iran-Iraq War, declaring: "We can launch our missiles today, without any limitation, toward any target we choose."

Ghalibaf continued his bellicose remarks: "We will not paralyze the state and will never surrender. Iran has stable deterrence capability and we are able to stand against them. The enemy must know that negotiation is also a battlefield. Diplomacy is not surrender, but rather turning power on the ground into political achievement."

The threats come one day after Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps spokesman Hussein Mohebi warned that Tehran is prepared for a prolonged confrontation, will expand fighting toward targets not previously attacked, and will deploy new weapons that "will shock the world."

The Iranian posturing follows remarks by U.S. President Donald Trump, who made clear he is in "decision mode" and presented Iran with three stark options: "wipe it out, let it rot with its economy, or make a deal."

Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian are both expected to arrive this week at the UN General Assembly in New York, in what is being characterized as an especially tense encounter.

Trump is scheduled to address the General Assembly on Tuesday, with Pezeshkian speaking Wednesday. According to sources in Washington, the Iranian delegation will operate under strict movement restrictions imposed on U.S. soil and will have limited access to international media.