The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ top commander threatened that their “finger is on the trigger” as Iran awaits the arrival of a US “armada” to the Middle East.
“The Islamic Revolutionary Guards and dear Iran stand more ready than ever, finger on the trigger, to execute the orders and directives of the Commander-in-Chief,” commander of the IRGC Gen. Mohammad Pakpour declared Saturday, according to Iranian outlet Nour News.
Pakpour warned the US and Israel “to avoid any miscalculation,” the outlet reported.
The Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group, which includes three destroyers, is currently on the way from the Indian Ocean to the Middle East, expected to arrive in the coming days, Stars and Stripes reported.
Tehran’s stark warning comes after President Trump warned this week that he was sending a massive “armada” toward the region, ratcheting up tensions in the Middle East after weeks of brutal protests that led the Islamic Republic to slaughter thousands in a brutal crackdown.
“[W]e have an armada. We have a massive fleet heading in that direction, and maybe we won’t have to use it. We’ll see,” Trump said aboard Air Force One Thursday.
Trump initially backed off potentially bombing Iran last week after the repressive regime said it was canceling the planned execution by hanging of 837 protestors.
Iranian military forces killed over 3,117 protestors across the nation in the week after Dec. 28, Tehran admitted, as the government also blacked out the internet — which still remains in effect –to prevent the world from seeing the massive carnage.
“I was there that night. The security forces opened fire on people. They killed my child,” one mother told Reuters about Dec. 28.
UN human rights experts warned Tehran’s crackdown on anti-regime protesters has resulted in as many as 20,000 Iranian demonstrators, including children, being killed.
Meanwhile, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has repeatedly blamed the US and Trump for inciting the deadly demonstrations.
“The US had made extensive preparations to orchestrate this sedition. This sedition was a prelude to even bigger schemes. The Iranian nation defeated the US,” Khamenei claimed on Jan. 17, one of latest posts on X.
