Iran’s top military official warns that any miscalculation by the Islamic Republic’s enemies would trigger a forceful response, saying the country is fully prepared for confrontation and retaliation.

Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Major General Abdolrahim Mousavi made the remarks on Monday, saying the servicemen were prepared to respond decisively to threats. “We think only of victory. We have no fear of the enemy’s superficial might, and we are fully ready for confrontation and to deliver a retaliatory slap,” he stated.

The Iranian nation has long stood firm against the arrogant and aggressive nature of the United States, forcing it into “repeated defeats,” including in the recent “complex, multidimensional, and terrorist war,” which disrupted enemy calculations.

The official was referring to the US- and Israeli-backed terrorist riots that had sought to divert economic protests towards unrest, but were faced with counteraction on the part of Iranian intelligence and security forces.

Over the past 47 years, he added – pointing to the time that has passed since the victory of Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution – Iranians have proven that the country “is not something that can be swallowed,” warning that an “obstinate, reckless adversary who refuses to learn will ultimately be suffocated.”