Report: Iran prepares for immediate attack

A senior Iranian official disclosed today (Monday) that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has instructed the armed forces to be placed on full alert.

In a related development, earlier today, the commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, Hossein Salami, threatened Israel, claiming that Iran is “ready for war” against Israel if necessary. His remarks were made during a meeting with senior commanders and directors of the Revolutionary Guard, where he reviewed the past year, describing it as “turbulent and difficult.”

“We’re not worried about war at all. We won’t initiate a war, but we’re prepared for any war, and we have decisive power to confront any attack,” Salami said in statements quoted by Iran’s state news agency IRNA. “Any escalation will unleash a fire beyond imagination, the scale and intensity of the war will far exceed the wildest expectations of the enemy.”

Iran’s military capabilities bolster this posture. It has over 1,000 ballistic missiles reportedly aimed at Israeli nuclear sites (per last week’s reports cited by Srugim News), and its underground missile facilities, showcased recently, signal a capacity for sustained conflict. Salami’s assertion of “decisive power” and knowledge of “formulas to defeat the enemy” reflects confidence in Iran’s arsenal, including drones and proxies like the Houthis, Hezbollah, and smaller groups like Kata’ib al-Mujahideen, implicated in the Bibas family kidnapping.

That being said, Israel has diminished Hezbollah's arsenal and eliminated and injured many of its operatives, and the US has launched a series of devastating strikes on the Houthis. So its proxies are very much weakened and it's not exactly in the strongest position to launch an attack on America and its closest ally Israel.

The broader context includes U.S. military buildup, two aircraft carriers and B-2 bombers at Diego Garcia (per Al Jazeera, April 2, 2025) and Gulf states’ refusal to allow their airspace for attacks on Iran (Middle East Eye, April 1, 2025), complicating any offensive against Tehran. Iran’s threats to retaliate globally, including against U.S. bases, indicate a strategy to deter rather than strike first.

Iran is prepping for an “immediate attack” in the sense of being on high alert and ready to respond swiftly to any aggression, as ordered by Khamenei and articulated by Salami today.

There’s no definitive evidence they’re about to launch an unprovoked assault, but the tinderbox that is the Middle East is becoming more and more volatile, driven by mutual threats with Israel and the U.S. over nuclear issues, regional proxies, and the October 7 legacy. The next moves hinge on whether these threats escalate into action.

According to Hallel Bitton Rosen, a senior Israeli official to Channel 14 News: “We are preparing for the possibility that Iran will make a mistake and attack us with hundreds of missiles. The cooperation between us and the Americans in defense is stepping up another level; it’s the best it’s ever been. The additional (THAAD) battery that landed here is part of a series of actions with them. There’s about a month left until Trump’s deadline for the Iranians: everything is on the table.”

There are concerning signs that the situation is definitely heating up: