Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian vowed Saturday that Tehran will not “bow” to foreign pressure as war tensions mountwith the US amid ongoing nuclear talks – even as Washington rolls out its biggest military buildup in the Middle East since the Iraq invasion.
“World powers are lining up to force us to bow our heads,” a defiant Pezeshkian said on state TV.
“But we will not bow our heads despite all the problems that they are creating for us.”
The remarks come as tensions soar over Iran’s atomic program, with President Trump warning the nation it has just 10 days to make a nuclear deal or face devastating airstrikes on its weapons facilities.
An anticipated attack could also be directed at the Islamic Republic, potentially targeting Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, two US officials told Reuters.
Trump has not ruled out the use of military force against the theocratic regime, and his military buildup in the region mirrors the one he amassed near Venezuela before the Jan. 3 raid to capture strongman Nicolas Maduro and his wife.
“They have something for every scenario,” one Trump adviser told Axios of the Pentagon’s plan.
“One scenario takes out the ayatollah and his son and the mullahs. What the president chooses no one knows. I don’t think he knows.”
The Iranian dictator — whose brutal crackdown on nationwide protests last month has killed at least 7,000 — also threatened on social media to sink US warships. Trump had vowed to come to the protesters’ rescue, but has thus far declined to take military action against Iran.
“It is entirely possible we will see the regimes fall in Iran, in Venezuela and in Cuba, and we could also see governments replace them that want to be friends with the United States of America,” Texas Senator Ted Cruz told Fox News’ Sean Hannity Wednesday night.
The Republican said he told the president Iran’s regime is “teetering” and that the US has an opportunity to take military action, arguing that toppling it would mark the “most consequential geopolitical shift” since the fall of the Berlin Wall.
“We’re not going to see hundreds of thousands of troops on the ground. We’re not going to see massive American casualties, but the president is willing to defend American national security interests,” Cruz said.
Meanwhile, Washington continued its military build up ahead of a potential conflict, dispatching the world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, to the Middle East to join the USS Abraham Lincoln and an expanding naval fleet in the region.
When asked if the US could target the Tehran regime’s nuclear sites again, Trump replied, “If we do it, that would be the least of the mission.”
Last year, Trump greenlit Operation Midnight Hammer to bomb three of Iran’s top nuclear facilities, a mission he claimed “completely and totally obliterated” those facilities, which the US alleged were used for a nuclear weapons program.
Iran has denied that it has been pursuing a nuclear weapon, despite having at one point enriched at 60%, far above the threshold needed for nuclear power plants.
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