As Iran Stands Combat Ready, Trump Calls for Peace

As negotiations between the United States and Iran over its nuclear program continue, the chief of staff of the Iranian armed forces, Maj. Gen. Mohammad Baqeri, announced on Tuesday that his nation's military is in top form.

"We are in our best form in terms of combat capability and readiness," he said, according to the Iranian publication IRNA. "Thank God our Armed Forces are in the best situation as to intelligence collection, operational planning, and readiness to implement scenarios."

But the message comes amid a geopolitical reshuffling. After talks on Sunday in Oman regarding Iran's nuclear program, President Donald Trump announced at the U.S.-Saudi investment summit on Tuesday both a condemnation of "neocons" and a gesture of goodwill toward Iran.

"I want to make a deal with Iran," Trump said. "If I can make a deal with Iran, I'll be very happy. We're going to make the Middle East and the world a safer place, but if Iran's leadership rejects this olive branch and continues to attack their neighbors, then we will have no choice but to inflict massive maximum pressure — drive Iranian oil exports to zero like I did before."

Still, it is not clear who is funding the terrorist cells. As a member of Congress in 2016, Tulsi Gabbard, now Trump's director of national intelligence, introduced a proposal for the U.S. to stop arming the Islamic State group.

In her speech from the House floor, she suggested that the U.S. was funding terrorist activities overseas. Moreover, The Times of Israel has accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of propping up Hamas, ostensibly for a land grab.

In his prior remarks, Trump said that "the gleaming marvels of Riyadh and Abu Dhabi were not created by the so-called 'nation builders,' neocons, or liberal nonprofits like those who spent trillions and trillions of dollars failing to develop Baghdad, so many other cities.

"Instead, the birth of a modern Middle East has been brought by the people of the region themselves, the people that are right here, the people that have lived here all their lives, developing your own sovereign countries, pursuing your own unique visions and charting your own destinies in your own way."

On Tuesday, speaking on nuclear negotiations from the White House, Trump told reporters that Iran "can't have a nuclear weapon, but I think that they are talking intelligently. We're in the midst of talking to them. Right now, they're acting very intelligent. We want Iran to be wealthy and wonderful and happy and great, but they can't have a nuclear weapon, it's very simple."

Nonetheless, Iran has said it doesn't possess a nuclear weapon. And according to IRNA, by religious decree from its leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, it doesn't seek to develop one.

Still, Netanyahu has been adamant that Iran possesses a nuclear weapon despite no reported evidence, and last week announced that in terms of military operations, that "Israel will defend itself by itself."

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Iran's Baqeri added: "Our advice to the enemies who sometimes pose threats against the establishment is: You may initiate a conflict with the Islamic Republic based on a miscalculation, but the ending, manner, timing, location, and developments on the battleground will not be within your control. It will be the Islamic Republic of Iran that will determine them."

"In case the enemies make a mistake, or intend to take action against the [Islamic] establishment," he added, "and the sacred waters and soil of the Islamic Republic of Iran, our Armed Forces have the ability and readiness to confront them."

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