Araghchi Warns of No Red Lines in Response to Merz’s Iran Remarks

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned on October 31 that Iran would place no red lines on its response to any future attack, in a statement answering German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. The message, published on Araghchi’s official Persian-language Telegram channel, referred explicitly to earlier U.S. and Israeli air attacks on Iran. Araghchi contrasted the cost to Europe described in Merz’s remarks with the damage he said Iran’s armed forces could inflict on an attacker. He said €100 billion would be insignificant beside that response. Araghchi added: “There will be no red lines anymore.” His warning was conditional on an attack on Iran; the statement did not announce a new military operation or give a timetable for retaliation. The account’s explanation of the exchange said Merz had estimated that higher energy prices over eight months had cost European companies and consumers more than €100 billion. That figure was presented as Merz’s assessment, rather than a new Iranian estimate of Europe’s losses. Araghchi also recalled Merz’s support for the U.S. and Israeli attacks the previous year and attributed to him the description of those operations as doing Europe’s dirty work. The foreign minister used that earlier position as the background for his latest warning. The post did not identify specific targets or announce a diplomatic meeting or other next step.