Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has warned Israel and the United States of a “devastating response” to actions against Iran and its allies, according to state media.

Khamenei, 85, made the comments on Saturday as he addressed students ahead of the anniversary of the 1979 takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran by hardline students – cementing decades of hostility between Tehran and Washington that continues to this day.

“The enemies, whether the Zionist regime or the United States of America, will definitely get a devastating response to what they do to Iran and the Iranian nation and the resistance front,” Khamenei said in the capital Tehran, referring to Iran also on armed groups allied with Iran, which include the Houthis in Yemen, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Palestinian Hamas.

The Supreme Leader did not specify the timing or extent of any attack.

He had previously taken a more cautious approach, saying officials would weigh Iran's response and that Israel's attack “should neither be exaggerated nor downplayed” after the Israeli military launched attacks on military bases in Iran last week, striking about 20 locations over several hours had hit Ilam, Khuzestan and Tehran.

Israel said the strikes were in response to attacks “by Iran and its proxies.”

Khamenei met with university students on Saturday to mark Student Day, which commemorates a Nov. 4, 1978 incident in which Iranian soldiers opened fire on students protesting against the shah's rule at Tehran University.

The crowd greeted Khamenei with enthusiastic cheers and shouted: “The blood in our veins is a gift to our leader!”

Danger of further escalation

Israel has said its airstrikes on Iran on October 26 were in retaliation for a major ballistic missile attack by Tehran on October 1.

The Iranian attack, involving about 200 rockets, was launched after Israeli strikes in recent months that killed leaders of Hezbollah, Hamas and the Iranian military.

Israel has warned Iran of retaliation, while Tehran has promised a response, saying it does not seek war.

“If Iran makes the mistake of firing another rocket barrage at Israel, we will again know how to reach Iran … and strike very, very hard,” Israel's military chief Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said earlier this week, adding that certain Goals that had been hit were set aside “because we may have to do this again.”

Further attacks from both sides risk drawing the region, already tense due to Israel's wars in Gaza and Lebanon, into a larger regional conflict just days before Tuesday's U.S. presidential election.

The U.S. military operates throughout the Middle East, with some troops currently manning a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery in Israel.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin “ordered the deployment of additional missile defense destroyers, fighter squadrons and tankers, as well as several US Air Force B-52 long-range bombers in the region,” Pentagon spokesman Major General Pat Ryder said on Friday.

Austin “continues to make clear that if Iran, its partners or its proxies use this moment to target American personnel or interests in the region, the United States will take all necessary actions to defend our people,” Austin said Ryder in a statement.