DUBAI, February 10. /TASS/. Iran’s army is ready to repel any foreign threat, Chief of the General Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Mohammad Bagheri said.

"The armed forces are in the best condition they have ever been and are ready to meet any threats," the Iranian defense ministry quoted him as saying when asked about Iran’s reaction to reports that the US and Israel were considering a potential strike against the republic, as allegedly discussed during US President Donald Trump’s recent talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

On February 4, Trump signed an executive order to reinstate maximum US pressure on Iran. The measure specifically aims to increase efforts to reduce Iran's oil exports. At the same time, the US president did not rule out the possibility of a meeting with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, expressing a desire to negotiate a "great deal" with Tehran. The document was signed before Trump’s talks with the visiting Israeli prime minister.

According to the Axios portal, Netanyahu sought to talk Trump into providing Israel with weapons capable of hitting Iranian underground nuclear facilities, which the Israeli leadership considers to be an existential threat. Meanwhile, Iran argues that its nuclear program is absolutely peaceful because the Supreme leader’s fatwa explicitly prohibits the development of nuclear weapons.

On February 5, Trump wrote on the Truth Social platform that the talk about the US and Israel’s plans "to blow Iran into smithereens are greatly exaggerated." According to the US leader, he would prefer "a Verified Nuclear Peace Agreement" with Iran. However, Trump did not explain how this verification process would differ from the one already conducted by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), carried out in conformity with the safeguards agreement under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.