In a series of messages marking National Defense Industry Day, Iran’s top military commanders have unanimously declared the nation’s armed forces are at their highest level of readiness, promising a response to any aggressor that would be “more crushing” than the one delivered during the 12-day war with Israel.

Army (Artesh) Chief Major General Amir Hatami, in a message to Defense Minister Brigadier General Aziz Nasirzadeh, stated that the “honorable sons of the nation” are prepared to “punish any malevolent aggressor and deliver a more crushing and regret-inducing response.” He credited the nation’s victory in the recent conflict to national unity under the guidance of Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei and the resistance of the Iranian people against an “unholy alliance of evildoers.”

Iran and Israel fought between June 13 and June 24, after the regime launched unprovoked attacks on Iranian soil, targeting the country's military, nuclear, and civilian infrastructure. However, Israelis were forced to ask for a ceasefire through the Americans, after Iranian missiles exhausted a significant part of the regime's air defense arsenal and left large swathes of Israeli cities in ruins. 

Echoing the Army chief's sentiment, Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces Major General Abdolrahim Mousavi emphasized that strengthening defense power and deterrence capability is the only way to safeguard the country from external threats. He stated that Iran’s “astonishing” missile power, demonstrated in recent retaliatory strikes, has made enemies realize that adventurism would be met with a “very strong slap in the face.”

The Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), Major General Mohammad Pakpour, reinforced this position, warning that “any miscalculation by the enemy will be met with a decisive, swift, and regretful response.” He affirmed that the strategy of self-reliance and comprehensive power-building has positioned Iran at the “peak of its deterrence power.”

The statements coincided with a major naval exercise, ‘Sustainable Power 1404,’ in the northern Indian Ocean and the Sea of Oman. The exercises, described as a demonstration of deterrence, involved a wide array of naval capabilities and marked the first of routine Iranian manouvers since the recent war. It was attended by the Navy’s surface and subsurface units, flight units, shore-to-sea missile sites, sea-based missile sites, and electronic warfare units, attracting enormous attention from Western and Israeli media.