‘They Are Sitting Inside a Glass Room’: Citing U.S. Threats, Iran Puts Army on High Alert

Latest Developments

Iran Fears U.S. Strikes: Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei placed his country’s military on its highest alert level, fearing potential strikes by the United States, according to an Iranian official cited by Reuters on April 6. The move comes after President Donald Trump said on March 30 that if Iran does not reach a deal with the United States over its nuclear weapons program, he will issue secondary tariffs alongside “bombing the likes of which they have never seen before.” Iran has also reportedly sent a notice to the region’s U.S.-allied states — including Iraq, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Turkey, and Bahrain — that a U.S. attack using their territory or air space would be considered a hostile action.
Tehran Rejects Trump’s Negotiation Offer: On March 5, Trump presented an offer for direct negotiations with Tehran over its rapidly advancing nuclear program in a letter sent to Khamenei. Khamenei and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian rejected the offer, responding that if the White House’s “maximum pressure” campaign persists, they would only engage in indirect negotiations through Omani intermediaries.
Iran Threatens U.S. Military Positions: On March 31, Khamenei said during an Eid-al-Fitr speech that “if [U.S. forces] commit any mischief they will surely receive a strong reciprocal blow.” In an interview the same day, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Aerospace Force, Brig. Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh said, “The Americans have at least 10 bases around Iran in the region, which accommodates some 50,000 forces. This means they are sitting inside a glass room.” The regime-affiliated Tehran Times reported on March 31 that the Iranian armed forces have “readied missiles with the capability to strike U.S.-related positions.”

FDD Expert Response

“This raising of Iranian military posture levels is the natural result of President Trump’s recently launched ‘maximum pressure’ campaign and Israel’s kinetic actions against Iran last fall. In truth, it does not matter what posture level Iranian forces are at; both the United States and Israel can impose costs on Iran at any time they choose. President Trump should stop the rhetorical threats against Iran and impose kinetic costs, at least in response to Iran’s support for the Houthis.” — RADM (Ret.) Mark Montgomery, FDD Senior Fellow and Senior Director of FDD’s Center on Cyber and Technology

“Tehran lacks the financial resources, military capability, and domestic support for a large-scale military conflict with the United States and Israel. However, Iran’s leaders likely prefer a limited, surgical military strike on their nuclear program over a voluntary, full dismantlement of that program.” — Saeed Ghasseminejad, Senior Iran and Financial Economics Advisor