Iran will treat any attack “as an all-out ‍war against us,” a senior Iranian official said ​on Friday (January 23, 2026), ahead of the arrival of ‌a U.S. military aircraft carrier strike group ​and other assets in the Middle East in the coming days.

“This military buildup – we hope it is not intended for real confrontation – but our military is ready for the worst-case scenario. This is why everything is on high ​alert in Iran,” said the senior Iranian official, ⁠speaking on condition of anonymity.

“This time we will treat any attack – limited, unlimited, surgical, kinetic, whatever they call it – as ​an all-out war against ⁠us, and we will respond in the hardest way possible to settle this,” the official said.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday ‌(January 22, 2026) that the United States had an “armada” heading toward ‌Iran but hoped he would not have to use it, as he renewed ‍warnings to Tehran against killing protesters or restarting its nuclear program.

“If the Americans violate Iran’s ‍sovereignty and territorial integrity, we will respond,” said the Iranian official. He declined to specify what an Iranian response might look like.

“A country under constant military threat from the United States has no option but to ensure that everything at its disposal can be used to push back and, ⁠if possible, restore balance against anyone who dares to attack Iran,” the official said.

The U.S. ​military has in the past periodically sent increased forces ⁠to the Middle East at times of heightened tensions, moves that were often defensive. However, the U.S. military staged a major buildup last year ahead of its June strikes ⁠against Iran’s nuclear program.

The U.S. has sanctioned more than 50 entities, individuals and vessels for allegedly facilitating Iranian energy sales, according to an official statement.

Two Indian nationals are the among those facing the sanctions, announced by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Thursday (October 9, 2025).

“These actors have collectively enabled the export of billions of dollars’ worth of petroleum and petroleum products, providing critical revenue to the Iranian regime and its support for terrorist groups that threaten the United States,” the department said in a press release.

The sanctions are part of the department’s efforts to curb Iran’s petroleum and petrochemical exports. “The Treasury Department is degrading Iran’s cash flow by dismantling key elements of Iran’s energy export machine,” it said, quoting Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent.

One of the Indian nationals sanctioned is Varun Pula, who owns Marshall Islands-based Bertha Shipping Inc., which owns and operates Comoros-flagged vessel PAMIR. The vessel has transported nearly four million barrels of Iranian LPG to China since July 2024, according to the U.S. statement.

The other Indian national sanctioned is Soniya Shrestha, who owns Vega Star Ship Management Private Limited. The company owns and operates another Comoros-flagged vessel, NEPTA, which has transported Iranian-origin LPG to Pakistan since January 2025.  The statement added that all “property and interests in property of the designated or blocked persons” that are in the U.S. or in the possession or control of U.S. persons are blocked and must be reported to OFAC.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Saturday (September 27, 2025) said Washington had demanded that Tehran hand over all its enriched uranium in return for a three-month reprieve from sanctions, rejecting this as “unacceptable”.

The United States “wants us to hand over all our enriched uranium to them, and in return they would give us three months” exemption from sanctions,” Mr. Pezeshkian told reporters in New York before leaving for Tehran. “This is by no means acceptable.”