On Thursday, IRGC commander General Mohammad Pakpour warned Israel and the United States \u201cto avoid any miscalculations, by learning from historical experiences and what they learned in the 12-day imposed war, so that they do not face a more painful and regrettable fate.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and dear Iran have their finger on the trigger, more prepared than ever, ready to carry out the orders and measures of the supreme commander-in-chief \u2014 a leader dearer than their own lives,\u201d he said, referring to Khamenei.<\/p>\n
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\t\t\t\tBy signing up, you agree to the terms<\/a><\/p>\n Another senior military figure, General Ali Abdollahi Aliabadi, who leads the Iranian joint command headquarters, warned that in the case of an attack by the United States, \u201call US interests, bases and centers of influence\u201d would be \u201clegitimate targets\u201d for the Iranian armed forces.<\/p>\n \t The prospect of immediate American action against Tehran appears to have receded over the last week, with both sides insisting on giving diplomacy a chance even as US media outlets report<\/a> that Trump is still studying options.<\/p>\n Addressing the World Economic Forum in Davos, Trump said the US struck Iranian uranium enrichment sites last year to prevent Tehran from making a nuclear weapon.<\/p>\n Iran denies its nuclear program is aimed at seeking the bomb. However, it enriched uranium to levels that have no peaceful application, obstructed international inspectors from checking its nuclear facilities, and expanded its ballistic missile capabilities.<\/p>\n \u201cCan\u2019t let that happen,\u201d he said, adding: \u201cAnd Iran does want to talk, and we\u2019ll talk.\u201d<\/p>\n In a standoff marked by seesawing rhetoric, Trump had on Tuesday warned Iran\u2019s leaders the US would \u201cwipe them off the face of this earth\u201d if there was any attack on his life in response to a strike targeting Khamenei.<\/p>\n Speaking to CNBC this week, Trump said, \u201cWe hope that there\u2019s not going to be further action.\u201d<\/p>\n But he warned Iran against advancing its nuclear program.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re going to find out what they\u2019re going to do with nuclear. They can\u2019t do the nuclear\u2026 If they do it, [we\u2019re going to strike] again\u2026 They keep experimenting with nuclear, and at some point they\u2019re going to get the idea that they can\u2019t do that,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Speaking at Davos, President Isaac Herzog said \u201cthe future for the Iranian people can only be in a regime change,\u201d adding that \u201cthe Ayatollah regime is in quite a fragile situation.\u201d<\/p>\n \t Pakpour\u2019s comments came in a written statement quoted by state television marking the national day in Iran to celebrate the Guards, a force whose mission is to protect the 1979 Islamic revolution from internal and external threats.<\/p>\n The group is sanctioned as a terrorist entity by countries including Australia, Canada, Israel and the United States, and campaigners have long urged similar moves from the EU and UK.<\/p>\n Activists accuse the Guards of playing a frontline role in the deadly crackdown on protests. Giving their first official toll from the protests, Iranian authorities on Wednesday said 3,117 people were killed.<\/p>\n The statement from Iran\u2019s foundation for martyrs and veterans sought to draw a distinction between \u201cmartyrs,\u201d who it said were members of security forces or innocent bystanders, and what it described as \u201crioters\u201d backed by the US. Of its toll of 3,117, it said 2,427 people were \u201cmartyrs.\u201d<\/p>\n However, rights groups say the heavy toll was caused by security forces firing directly on protesters and that the actual number of those killed could be far higher and even extend to over 20,000.<\/p>\n \t Efforts to confirm the scale of the toll have been hampered by the national internet shutdown, with monitor Netblocks saying it was now two weeks since the authorities reached for the \u201cnational kill-switch.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAll the evidence gradually emerging from inside Iran shows that the real number of people killed in the protests is far higher than the official figure,\u201d said the director of the Iran Human Rights NGO, Mahmood Amriy-Moghaddam, saying the authorities\u2019 toll has \u201cno credibility whatsoever.\u201d<\/p>\n Warning that their own current tolls do not reflect the true number of fatalities, IHR says it has verified at least 3,428 killings, while another NGO, US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), has documented 4,902 deaths.<\/p>\n According to HRANA, at least 26,541 people have been arrested. On Thursday alone, state TV announced over 200 more arrests in provinces including Kermanshah in the west and Isfahan in central Iran.<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AFP__20240417__34PM4M7__v2__HighRes__IranPolitics-640x400.jpg\")
\n\t\tCommander of Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Mohammad Pakpour, pictured in 2024. (ATTA KENARE \/ AFP)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AFP__20260121__93HK7VJ__v1__HighRes__SwitzerlandUsPoliticsEconomyDiplomacy-640x400.jpg\")
\n\t\tUS President Donald Trump delivers a special address during the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos on January 21, 2026 (Fabrice COFFRINI \/ AFP)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AFP__20251231__89C8723__v1__HighRes__IranPoliticsAnniversarySoleimani-640x400.jpg\")
\n\t\tIranians ride their motorbike past a huge banner of former Iran Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani ahead of the sixth anniversary of his assassination Iraq, at Valiasr Square in Tehran, on December 31, 2025. Soleimani was killed on January 3, 2020, in a targeted US airstrike at Baghdad airport in Iraq. (Photo by ATTA KENARE \/ AFP)<\/p>\n
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