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"We are not at all concerned about war. We will not be the ones to start a war, but we are fully prepared for any conflict," IRGC Chief Commander Hossein Salami said Saturday.

"We're ready for both psychological operations and military action by the enemy, but we will not retreat a single step."

He said Iran's enemy is spread across the region and is within the Islamic Republic military's reach everywhere.

Israel "is like a spread-out table in front of us. A great power has been amassed. If the enemy wishes to untie our hands so it can witness the reality of our power, we are ready."

Salami likened Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to Prophet Moses, saying he will lead Iranians through the turmoil just as Moses parted the Nile and brought his people safely through it.

He said the Iran-Israel confrontation is a "real war—a battle for survival and a clash between two entities."

"This is the greatest confrontation in the history of Muslims against polytheists, unbelievers, and hypocrites. This front is the most unequal battle in history since Ashura," he said. "The enemy has come with all its might to force the surrender and destruction of dignity, honor, identity, Islam, and [the principle of] leadership—but it cannot succeed."

"Iran seeks dialogue from a position of equality—not a situation in which it is threatened on one hand and asked to negotiate on the other," President Masoud Pezeshkian said Saturday.

"If you want negotiations, then what are the threats for?" he added, referring to Donald Trump's threats to bomb Iran if talks over its disputed nuclear program fail.

"Today, the United States not only humiliates Iran but also the world. This behavior contradicts its call for negotiations," he said.

Any potential US airstrike would target not only Iran's nuclear facilities but also its air defense and missile capabilities in a bid to prevent possible retaliation, the former commander of US Central Command told Iran International.

In an exclusive interview with Iran International, former CENTCOM commander and CIA chief David Petraeus said Donald Trump would not stop at a limited attack on Iran's nuclear sites and would go after the Islamic Republic's air defense and missile capabilities.

"You probably have to take out some of the retaliatory capacity of Iran as well because you don't want to just take out the nuclear program and then have them go after the bases where we have forces, and that would then bring in all these other countries, of course," he said.

"This is not just a surgical attack on discrete nuclear capabilities. This is against the retaliatory capabilities, against the defense capability, and that's what has to be done if you're going to carry out this operation."

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The IRGC affiliated Tasnim News Agency called the Saturday announcement by Muammar Al-Eryani "psychological warfare”. Al-Eryani is the minister of Yemen's official government, which is at war with the Houthis.

"It seems that this false news has been published in the context of psychological warfare and in order to push the region towards an all-out war, while officials and military commanders of the Islamic Republic of Iran have repeatedly announced that the Yemeni Ansarullah forces are fighting the US and Israel completely independently,” Tasnim wrote.

Al-Eryani said in a press statement that the attack targeted a point that was "used to plan terrorist attacks against commercial ships and tankers in the Red Sea, Bab al-Mandab, and the Gulf of Aden” amid the Houthis’ maritime blockade.

The Houthis maintain a narrative of victory when publicizing information on engagement with US military action.

A press statement this week said: "We are in an advanced position on the maritime front, and the American aircraft carrier 'Truman' is in a constant state of retreat, with pursuit ongoing,” the US vessel on the frontline of the maritime conflict.

The US has carried out multiple airstrikes across Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen since last month as it cracks down on the Iran-backed group which has been imposing the blockade since November 2023 in the wake of the Gaza war.

The group began the blockade targeting Israeli-linked ships, claiming to be working in allegiance with Hamas in Gaza but has since targeted multiple international vessels and killed international seamen.

US President Donald Trump has warned that any firing by the Houthis in Yemen will be directly attributed to the Islamic Republic of Iran and will have serious consequences for Tehran.

"From this moment on, every shot fired by the Houthis will be considered a shot fired by Iranian weapons and leadership. Iran will be held responsible, it will bear the consequences, and these consequences will be serious," he wrote in a message on his social media account, Truth Social.

In spite of denials from Tehran that they are controlling the group, Trump continues to attribute blame to Iran for funding and arming the group, the blockade initiated on the orders of Supreme Leader Ali Al Khamenei.

”Let no one be fooled! The hundreds of attacks carried out by the Houthis, these evil thugs and thugs based in Yemen who are hated by the Yemeni people, all originate from and are directed by Iran,” Trump said.

According to the Associated Press this week, satellite images show the deployment of at least six nuclear-capable B-2 Spirit bombers to Camp Thunder Bay on the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, which is within striking distance of both Iran and Yemen.

Tensions also remain high between Iran and the US over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program.

The B-2 would be crucial in potentially bombing Iran’s underground nuclear sites and has been used in combat to target the Houthis in the past.

As messaging between Tehran and Washington rapidly evolves, Iranian politicians and media continue to send mixed—and at times irrelevant—signals, while the US stance remains relatively consistent under President Donald Trump, who holds the final say.

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