Iran has put defense systems around its nuclear sites on high alert amid fears of a joint U.S.-Israeli attack, The Telegraph reported on Tuesday, citing two “high-level government sources” in Tehran.
The Islamic Republic is “just waiting for the attack and are anticipating it every night and everything has been on high alert—even in sites that no one knows about,” one of the sources told the U.K.-based newspaper.
Work to fortify Tehran’s nuclear sites “has intensified over the past year, particularly since Israel launched the first attack” on the Iranian military in response to Iran’s April 13, 2024, missile and drone assault on the Jewish state, he added.
The Iranian official who spoke to The Telegraph said there are currently fears in regime circles that “the U.S. could join in and launch a larger-scale attack that could put the Islamic Republic’s existence in danger.”
Remarks by U.S. President Donald Trump about potential plans to strike Iran have further intensified these activities, the source noted.
The official acknowledged that further Israeli military action could leave Iran vulnerable, as the country’s air defense systems had been “heavily weakened” by Jerusalem’s unprecedented Oct. 26 retaliatory airstrikes.
“Several additional [air defense system] launchers have been deployed, but there is an understanding that they may not be effective in the event of a large-scale strike,” according to the official cited by the newspaper.
In related news, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Tuesday dismissed the possibility of direct nuclear talks with the United States.
“There will be no possibility of direct talks between us and the United States on the nuclear issue as long as the maximum pressure is applied in this way,” Araghchi said, referring to recent sanctions on Tehran.
Last week, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) renewed its threats to launch a third direct missile and drone assault against Israel.
“True Promise III will be carried out at the appropriate time,” Brig. Gen. Ali Fadavi, the IRGC’s second in command, said in comments published by the Islamic Republic’s semi-official Mehr News Agency.
Last year, the Islamic Republic conducted two major attacks against Israel, launching nearly 500 missiles and drones at the Jewish state.
The assaults, which were largely ineffective thanks to Israeli and allied defense measures that intercepted the vast majority of the projectiles, including guided ballistic missiles, were codenamed “True Promise I” (on the night of April 13-14) and “True Promise II” (on Oct. 1) by Iran.
Araghchi said in November that Tehran reserves the right to take action against Israel “at an appropriate time and in a way we think is right.”
He made it clear that Iran considers Israel’s October retaliatory strike, that took out most of the regime’s air defenses, as warranting a separate response.
In a separate Feb. 18 statement, Brig. Gen. Alireza Sabahifard, who heads Iran’s Air Defense Force, said Tehran was “ready to deal with any threat because all the equipment we currently have is 100% indigenous.”
Sabahifard claimed that the Iranian-produced Bavar 373 air-defense battery “cannot be compared to any defense system in the world.”
