A senior Iranian official said on Friday that Iran would treat any attack as “an all out war against us”, ahead of the expected arrival of a US aircraft carrier and other military assets in the Middle East in the coming days.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, added that Iran hopes the military build up is not intended for a real confrontation, but stressed that the armed forces are prepared for the worst scenarios. He said this is why everything in Iran is on the highest level of alert.
He added that “this time, we will treat any attack, limited or unlimited, whatever they choose to call it, as an all out war against us, and we will respond in the strongest possible way”.
On Thursday, US President Donald Trump said that the United States has a massive fleet heading towards Iran.
Trump said Washington is closely monitoring the situation in Iran and has a large fleet moving in that direction if needed.
He added that Iran had threatened to launch a strong strike against the United States if it proceeded with executions, asserting that “Iran should have reached an agreement before we struck it last year”.
Trump also indicated that tariffs of 25 percent on any party dealing with Iran would come into force very soon.
On Wednesday, Trump revealed in an interview with the American NewsNation network that he had issued very strict instructions to “wipe Iran off the face of the earth” if it attempted to carry out threats to assassinate him.
In an exclusive interview with the programme Katy Pavlich Tonight on NewsNation, marking the first anniversary of his inauguration for a second term, Trump said the United States would respond against Iran in its entirety if Tehran carried out its threats.
Trump told presenter Katy Pavlich, “If anything happens, Iran will be completely destroyed. I will hit them extremely hard, and I have issued very strict instructions to that effect”.
Trump also criticised his predecessor Joe Biden for not responding more forcefully to Iranian threats during his presidency. He added that “the president has to defend the president”, making clear that he would respond decisively even if the threats were directed at “someone else, not the president”.
