Iran warns: “We are ready for war”

Hossein Salami, head of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the ideological arm of Iran's military, said Saturday the country was "ready" for war.

"We are not worried about war at all. We will not be the initiators of war, but we are ready for any war," he said in statements cited by state media IRNA.

“We have learned the formulas for defeating the enemy and will not back down,” he said.

Salami made the remarks Saturday during a meeting with senior commanders and directors at IRGC headquarters, where he reflected on the past Persian year (ending March 20, 2025), describing it as filled with intense and difficult turmoil.

“This year, the entire army of disbelievers stood against the Islamic front and brought all their capabilities to the battlefield,” he added.

He referenced the killing of several IRGC commanders, including Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi and Brigadier General Haj Rahimi, in the “Israeli” airstrike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus last year.

“In the days following the Zionist attack on our consulate, we made decisions and prepared for direct confrontation with an enemy — a battle with global implications. For the first time in Islamic history, a major confrontation of this scale began to take shape,” he continued.

Statements from Iranian officials echoing similar sentiments come as US President Donald Trump –as part of his “Maximum pressure” policy– threatened to bomb Iran if it doesn’t hold direct talks on its nuclear program.