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31-01-2026
TEHRAN: The chief of the Iranian army has vowed a “crushing response” to any attack after the United States moved a strike force into regional waters as tensions continue to escalate.
A batch of 1000 drones have been added to Iran’s combat regiments, according to state television, with the commander of the military Amir Hatami on Thursday saying: “In accordance with the threats we are facing, mainta
ining and enhancing strategic advantages for rapid combat and a crushing response to any invasion… is always on the army’s agenda.”
It follows similar assertions on Wednesday by Iran’s foreign minister who said the nation’s armed forces have “their fingers on the trigger”, and a senior adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who said any military action by Washington would be considered the “start of war”.
The heated rhetoric is in response to US President Donald Trump’s threats of military action against the Middle East nation if it did not agree to his nuclear deal.
Trump has repeatedly indicated that he is considering ordering military action in response to Tehran’s crackdown on antigovernment protests this month, raising tensions across the region.
Araghchi had said earlier this month that Iran was ready for war if Washington wanted to “test” it.
The situation appeared to calm after the demonstrations were quelled and Trump said Iran had pledged not to carry out any planned executions of demonstrators but tensions reignited again this week after the Trump administration moved the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier to the region, spurring fears of a military confrontation.
Adnan Hayajneh, a professor of international relations at Qatar University, said deploying the aircraft carrier was a “show of power” by Washington intended to send a message to Tehran “that if you cannot follow exactly what we want, we will let the missiles fly”.
He said it remained to be seen whether the US would choose the path of diplomacy or military action but the threats were “the American way of convincing [Iran] to come to the table”.
Washington wants to put a halt to the Iranian nuclear and missile programs, which pose a challenge to Israeli hegemony in the region, and is seeking to do so while Tehran is weak domestically, regionally and internationally, Hayajneh said.
Tehran insists its program has strictly civilian purposes and it has the right to carry out the enrichment of uranium. The whereabouts of the country’s highly enriched uranium have remained unknown since the June attacks.
Diplomatic efforts
On Tuesday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian hit out against the latest US “threats”, saying they were “aimed at disrupting the security of the region and will achieve nothing other than instability”.
Araghchi, the foreign minister, also said earlier on Wednesday that Iran would not restart negotiations on the nuclear file while it is being threatened with an attack.
“There was no contact between me and [US envoy Steve] Witkoff in recent days, and no request for negotiations was made from us,” Araghchi told state media.
“Our stance is clear: Negotiations don’t go along with threats, and talks can only take place when there are no longer menaces and excessive demands,” he told state media but in his social media post, Araghchi noted that “Iran has always welcomed a mutually beneficial, fair and equitable” nuclear deal, free from threats that “ensures Iran’s rights to PEACEFUL nuclear technology, and guarantees NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS”. (Int’l News Desk)
