The commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), General Mohammad Pakpour, warned Israel and the United States (US) against making “miscalculations” after massive demonstrations hit the country.
Pakpour said that IRGC forces had put their “finger on the trigger”, indicating high readiness.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly opened the option of new military action against Iran, after Washington supported and joined the 12-day war between Tehran and Tel Aviv in June last year.
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Two weeks of protests that began in late December rocked the clerical leadership under supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, but they have died down amid a crackdown that activists say has left thousands dead.
Pakpour, as reported AFPFriday (23/1/2026), warned Israel and the US “to avoid any miscalculations, by learning from historical experience and what they learned in the forced 12-day war, so that they do not face a more painful and regrettable fate”.
“The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and beloved Iran have put their finger on the trigger, more prepared than ever, ready to carry out the orders and actions of the commander-in-chief — a leader they love more than their own lives,” Pakpour said, referring to Khamenei.
Pakpour’s statement was delivered in writing and quoted by Iranian state television in commemoration of a national day celebrating the IRGC, the force whose mission was to protect the 1979 Islamic revolution from internal and external threats.
Activists accuse the IRGC of playing a leading role in the brutal crackdown on demonstrators in Iran. The IRGC has been sanctioned as a terrorist entity by a number of countries, including Australia, Canada and the US.
Pakpour took over as IRGC Commander last year, after his predecessor, Hossein Salami, became one of several prominent military figures killed in Israeli attacks during the war that raged last year. These deaths reveal the deep penetration of Israeli intelligence against Iran.
Meanwhile, Israeli President Isaac Herzog, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, said that “the future of the Iranian people can only be realized through regime change”. Herzog also said “the Ayatollah’s regime is in a pretty fragile situation.”
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(nvc/ita)
