The commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said his country will take a "crushing, decisive, and destructive response" to any nation that targets it as the U.S. ramps up airstrikes on Iranian-backed Houthi terrorists in Yemen.
"Iran will never be the one to start a war, but should we face a threat, our response will be firm, decisive, and conclusive," Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami said Sunday in a televised speech, according to the Tehran Times.
"We are fully prepared to safeguard our interests, values, identity, and legitimacy. Any threat against Iran will be met with a crushing, decisive, and destructive response."
Salami's comments came a day after President Donald Trump said the U.S. launched a "decisive and powerful military action" to end the Houthi threat to Red Sea shipping and warned that Iran's support for the terror group "must end immediately."
Salami said Iran takes full responsibility for its actions and will "overtly" acknowledge them when necessary.
"If we attack anywhere or support anybody, we will unequivocally announce it," Salami said, according to Newsweek. But he said Iran does not dictate the policies of the Houthis, and that the Houthis make their own strategic decisions."
"The people of Yemen are independent, free, and capable of making their own decisions," Salami said, according to the Tehran Times. He also wrote that Iran is "dictating every move" the Houthis make.
On Monday, Trump warned the Houthis and Iran in a Truth Social post, writing that any further attack or retaliation by the Houthis "will be met with great force, and there is no guarantee that that force will stop there."
"Iran has played ‘the innocent victim' of rogue terrorists from which they've lost control, but they haven't lost control," Trump wrote. "They're dictating every move, giving them the weapons, supplying them with money and highly sophisticated Military equipment, and even, so-called, ‘Intelligence.'
"Every shot fired by the Houthis will be looked upon, from this point forward, as being a shot fired from the weapons and leadership of IRAN, and IRAN will be held responsible, and suffer the consequences, and those consequences will be dire!"
The war of words between the two nations correspond with the growing threat of military escalation. Trump recently warned in a letter to Iran Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that Tehran faces two choices — negotiation or military action. There also have been multiple reports that Israel might be planning strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities.
Meanwhile, Al Jazeera reporrted Monday in a translated post on X that Iraq Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein said "we have received messages indicating that [Israel] intends to launch a series of strikes against our country." No further details were provided.
That comes days after the leader of the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria, Abdallah Maki Mosleh al-Rifai, or "Abu Khadija," was reportedly killed Friday by Iraqi security forces, with the support of a U.S.-led coalition.
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.