Iran says it has readied “a significant number” of advanced missiles capable of striking American bases and military outposts in the Middle East, drawing a sharp warning from the Trump administration.
Iran’s “armed forces have readied missiles with the capability to strike U.S.-related positions,” the Tehran Times, a state-controlled newspaper, reported on Monday. “A significant number of these launch-ready missiles are located in underground facilities scattered across the country, designed to withstand airstrikes.”
The announcement came in response to President Donald Trump’s threat over the weekend to bomb the country if it does not enter into negotiations over its contested nuclear weapons program. But Trump is not backing down—the White House, in response to Tehran’s war preparations, told the Washington Free Beacon it does “not take kindly to military threats.”
“President Trump and his administration do not take kindly to military threats,” said White House National Security Council communications director James Hewitt. “The President has made clear he prefers direct diplomatic channels with Tehran, or they will face serious consequences if they do not end their work to obtain nuclear weapons.”
Iran’s missile activity was accompanied by a series of threats from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who promised a “strong counter strike” against the United States if Trump follows through with his threat to bomb the country. While the Trump administration and Iran have been trading sharp war rhetoric for weeks, it is the first time Tehran has announced firm military preparations for a potential conflict with America, signaling that the prospects for diplomacy are growing dim.
Iran’s armed forces also announced Monday that they are readying a “harsh and strong reaction to any threat” posed by the United States, warning that an “invasion of Iran’s territory will be met with a severe and strong response with an aggressive approach.”
The flurry of war moves was sparked by Trump’s vow on Sunday to bomb the country if it continues to reject diplomacy surrounding its nuclear program, which progressed rapidly during the Biden-Harris administration and remains on the cusp of fully producing a nuclear bomb.
“If they don’t make a deal, there will be bombing,” Trump said during an interview with NBC News. Though the president has repeatedly emphasized his desire to ink a fresh nuclear bargain with Iran, he has made clear that war plans remain on the table.
“President Trump said it clearly that there are two ways Iran can be handled: militarily or by making a deal,” White House National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes told the Free Beacon earlier this month, when Iran rejected diplomatic overtures from the United States. “We hope the Iran Regime puts its people and best interests ahead of terror.”
Tehran has ruled out direct talks with the Trump administration but said amid its war threats that the possibility of indirect talks remains plausible.
Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian confirmed after a Sunday cabinet meeting that “the door to holding indirect [talks] with Washington remains open,” the country’s state-controlled press reported.
“As we have stated before, Iran has never closed the channels of indirect communication,” Pezeshkian said while noting that “Iran has explicitly rejected the possibility of direct negotiations.”
The Iranian president’s remarks were the first direct response by Iran to a letter sent earlier this month by Trump requesting diplomatic talks. In separate comments, Khamenei adviser Ali Shamkhani claimed that Tehran’s response reiterated its “readiness for such discussions under specific conditions,” though he did not detail what they might be.
As Tehran leaves the door to indirect diplomacy open, it has continued to fortify its missile program and produce advanced weapons capable of hitting U.S. outposts and targets in Israel.
Tehran unveiled a “missile megacity” last week, saying it is just one of “hundreds-strong such facilities.”
The Islamic Republic also says it is still planning a new military operation against Israel. Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Naghdi, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps deputy coordinator, said over the weekend that his nation “must prepare for a major operation that will bring the enemy to an end.”
“We must be ready for a grand operation,” Naghdi added. “Know this: the Zionist regime’s time is up.”
Both the United States and Israel are already conducting operations to weaken Iran’s top terror proxies, including Hamas and the Houthi rebels in Yemen. Trump redesignated the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization upon taking office and has since authorized several military operations against the terror group, which has been attacking international maritime routes for more than a year.
Trump, in a Monday missive on his Truth Social platform, said the Houthis have been “decimated by the relentless strikes over the last two weeks. Many of their fighters and leaders are no longer with us.”
“Stop shooting at U.S. ships and we will stop shooting at you,” he wrote. “Otherwise, we have only just begun, and the real pain is yet to come, for both the Houthis and their supporters in Iran.”
