Commander of the Iranian Army Ataollah Salehi warns Tehran's enemies against committing an act of aggression against the country.

“The enemies will not pull out of the region Alive if they dare to invade the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Major-General Salehi said as he addressed a group of Iranian military attachés who had gathered in Tehran on Tuesday.

Salehi's remarks follow last week's reports about an armada of US naval battle ships heading toward the Persian Gulf with the aim of strengthening US strike forces in the region.

On August 11, a source close to the Israeli intelligence agency, Mossad, revealed that the USS Theodore Roosevelt, the USS Ronald Reagan, and the USS Iwo Jima were sailing toward the Persian Gulf. The source continued that they were accompanied by a British Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal and the French nuclear hunter-killer submarine Ametlyste.

The deployment is believed to be the largest naval task force gathered in the region by the US and its allies since the 1991 Persian Gulf War.

Washington and its staunch ally Tel Aviv (both possessors of nuclear warheads) have threatened to take military action against Tehran if it does not give up what they call the country's military nuclear program.

The threat comes despite various reports by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that there is no conclusive evidence indicating that Iran's nuclear program is aimed at military purposes.

Iran as a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty, however, it has refused to react to the military threats in a compliant manner. Instead, it has tried to enhance its defense abilities by conducting several maneuvers, and testing new domestically manufactured weaponry.

MJ/SME/DT