- Military spokesman warns that a conflict would encompass ‘the entire geography of the region’; Turkey says it’s working to prevent regional conflict, backs direct talks
Iran’s army spokesperson said Thursday that the military is ready for a conflict, if that is what the US wants, the official Student News Network reported, as the two countries prepare to hold talks aimed at staving off a clash.
US President Donald Trump has warned that “bad things” would probably happen if a deal could not be reached, ratcheting up pressure on the Islamic Republic in a standoff that has led to mutual threats of airstrikes and stirred fears of a wider war.
Commenting on the addition of 1,000 drones to the Iranian military, Iranian Brig. Gen. Mohammad Akraminia said Thursday: “We have always announced that we are ready to confront any option and any scenario that the enemy considers, and if the enemy chooses the option of war, we are ready for any option in war conditions.”
Trump “must choose between compromise or war,” he added, warning that if a war breaks out, “its scope will encompass the entire geography of the region and all US bases — from the occupied territories to the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman, where the US has bases. Our access to US bases is easy, and this has increased their vulnerability.”
Meanwhile, in a move that could further strain tensions, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards seized two oil tankers with their foreign crews in Gulf waters for “smuggling fuel,” the Tasnim news agency reported Thursday.
Amid the saber-rattling, Israeli Air Force chief Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar said Thursday that the military continues to “strengthen preparedness and capabilities in both defense and offense.”
northern Israel, February 5, 2026.
“The Air Force, and you in particular, are required to continue maintaining a high level of readiness,” Bar said while visiting a reserve Iron Dome air defense battery in northern Israel, according to remarks published by the military. “Every day, we continue to strengthen preparedness and capabilities in both defense and offense.”
Tehran, which says it has replenished its stockpile of ballistic missiles since coming under attack from Israel last year, has warned that it will unleash its missiles to defend the Islamic Republic if its security is under threat. It has threatened to hit Israel as well as US bases in the region.
Iranian and US officials are set to sit down in Oman on Friday for mediated talks.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Thursday that Turkey is doing its utmost to prevent US-Iran tensions from dragging the region into new conflict and chaos, and urged American and Iranian leaders to move ahead with talks.
Speaking to reporters on a return flight from a visit to Egypt, Erdogan praised diplomatic efforts by the sides and said leader-level talks would be helpful after lower-level negotiations, according to a transcript of his comments shared by his office.
While the talks were originally set for Turkey, Iran wanted the meeting to take place in Oman as a continuation of previous talks held in the Gulf Arab country that had focused strictly on Tehran’s nuclear program, a regional official said.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday said that despite Washington’s readiness to negotiate, a deal must cover Iran’s missile and nuclear programs, its support for terror groups in the region, and its treatment of its population.
Iran has only shown willingness to discuss its nuclear program, albeit not on the terms demanded by the US — for the Islamic Republic to agree not to enrich uranium on its own territory and export all of its already enriched stockpiles out of the country.
In June, the United States struck Iranian nuclear targets, joining in at the tail end of a 12-day war with Israel. Israel said it launched strikes against the existential threat it faced from Iran’s nuclear program.
Though Iran, which vows to destroy Israel, insists its program is peaceful, it has enriched uranium to levels that have no civilian use and are a short technical step from weapons-grade.
More recently, the US built up forces in the region following Iran’s violent crackdown against anti-government demonstrations last month, the deadliest since Iran’s 1979 revolution.
The US has sent thousands of troops to the Middle East, as well as an aircraft carrier, other warships, fighter jets, spy planes and air refueling tankers. Trump, who stopped short of carrying out threats to intervene, has since demanded nuclear concessions from Iran.
Iran’s leadership is increasingly worried a US strike could break its grip on power by driving an already enraged public back onto the streets, according to six current and former Iranian officials.
BY: The Times Union – Agencies
