Iran army chief warns US, Israel against attack, says forces on high alert

PARIS: Iranian army chief Amir Hatami on Saturday warned the United States and Israel against an attack, saying his country’s forces were on high alert following Washington’s heavy military deployments in the Gulf.

He also insisted the Islamic republic’s nuclear expertise could not be eliminated, after Trump said he expected Tehran to seek a deal to avoid US strikes.

“If the enemy makes a mistake, without a doubt it will endanger its own security, the security of the region, and the security of the Zionist regime,” Hatami said, according to the official IRNA news agency.

He noted that Iran’s armed forces were “at full defensive and military readiness”.

Washington sent a naval strike group to the Middle East led by the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, with Trump threatening to intervene militarily after a deadly crackdown by Iranian authorities on two weeks of anti-government protests.

The deployment has raised fears of a possible direct confrontation with Iran, which has warned it would respond with missile strikes on US bases, ships and allies — notably Israel — in the event of an attack.

On Friday, Trump said he predicted that Iran would seek to negotiate a deal over its nuclear and missile programmes rather than face American military action.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had said earlier that Tehran was ready for nuclear talks, but its missiles and defense “will never be negotiated”.

‘Cannot be eliminated’

The US carried out strikes on key Iranian nuclear sites in June when it briefly joined Israel’s 12-day war against its regional foe.

Israeli attacks also hit military sites across the country and killed senior officers and top nuclear scientists.

But Hatami on Saturday insisted that Iran’s nuclear technology “cannot be eliminated, even if scientists and sons of this nation are martyred”.

On Friday, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) would conduct “a two-day live-fire naval exercise” in the Strait of Hormuz, a key transit hub for global energy supplies.

In a statement, CENTCOM warned the IRGC against “any unsafe and unprofessional behavior near US forces”.

The United States designated the IRGC a terrorist organisation in 2019, a move the European Union followed on Thursday.

The EU decision drew angry reactions from Tehran, which vowed to reciprocate.