Iran Boosts Air Defenses as It Braces for Fresh US Attacks

“Today, we possess a much higher level of defensive capability than during the war, and even before it began,” Army Spokesman Mohammad Akraminia said.

Originally published by  Bloomberg News

Iran said it’s strengthened its military defenses against a potential resumption of U.S. strikes, the latest sign that the Islamic Republic is bracing for a return to all-out war as its tense standoff with Washington continues.

“Today, we possess a much higher level of defensive capability than during the war, and even before it began,” Army Spokesman Mohammad Akraminia said, according to the semi-official Iranian Students’ News Agency.

The army has repaired a “significant portion of the defensive equipment damaged during the war,” and “new equipment” has also been acquired to expand air defense coverage, Akraminia added.

The comments came after U.S. President Donald Trump declined to rule out using a weapon known as the “Mother of all Bombs” against Iran after midterm elections in an interview to Newsmax on Thursday.

They also underline a growing sense among Iranian officials that Trump will resume the bombing campaign he launched with Israel in February and later paused, as diplomatic talks over control of the Strait of Hormuz and Iran’s nuclear program appear deadlocked.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has taken part in joint drills with the army involving the new equipment, which he didn’t specify, as well as “combined and innovative operations,” Akraminia said, without elaborating.

The U.S.-Israeli strikes triggered a war and an energy crisis in the Persian Gulf after Iran retaliated by striking critical infrastructure in oil-rich Gulf Arab states that are allies of Washington.

“All sources we consult to gauge the enemy’s intent agree that a threat is imminent,” Mahdi Mohammadi, an aide to Iran’s lead negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said in a Telegram post on Friday.

“There is complete consensus on this point across our analytical apparatus.”

In addition to bolstering defenses at home, Iran is also threatening to target U.S. naval vessels that are enforcing a blockade of the Islamic Republic’s southern ports.

Akraminia, the Army spokesman, said U.S. warships have already moved more than 500 kilometers (311 miles) from Iran’s coast.

“With the operational plans we have underway, they will be forced to flee even further in the coming days,” he said.

Akraminia added that military oversight over the Persian Gulf is divided between the IRGC, which handles operations in the western section of the Strait of Hormuz, and the regular navy, which oversees the eastern half waterway and beyond toward the northern Indian Ocean.

Air war

Admiral Brad Cooper, commander of U.S. Central Command, said last week that the military “remains intensely focused” on enforcing the blockade.

The Pentagon has deployed a third aircraft carrier and 10,000 sailors and Marines to the Persian Gulf, Bloomberg reported on Oct. 2, citing a U.S. official.

Iran’s claim that it reconstituted its air defenses could raise new risks for Washington as it weighs a return to airstrikes.

The U.S. had claimed “local air superiority” over Iran as early as March, but at least 81 of its aircraft including drones were lost or damaged in the course of the conflict, according to a Congressional Research Service published last month.

In the most notable case, Iran shot down a U.S. F-15 fighter jet. Both crew members survived and were rescued by U.S. forces.

Washington continued to target Iranian air-defense sites and radar systems as recently as September. Officials in Tehran have said they remain prepared for all scenarios in the event of another military escalation with the U.S. while they also continue diplomatic efforts to revive negotiations.

Trump has previously ruled out striking Iran before the elections on Nov. 3, which will decide control of Congress in the U.S. In Thursday’s interview he mused about possible attacks after the vote when he was asked about deploying the so-called Mother of all Bombs.

The phrase is an apparent reference to the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb, a thermobaric weapon that sucks all the oxygen out of the surrounding air. During Israel’s June 2025 war on Iran, the U.S. dropped more than a dozen GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator bombs, or so-called bunker busters, on Iranian nuclear sites.

If Trump “wants to declare victory, he will likely have to target Iran’s nuclear program,” Mohammadi, the aide to Ghalibaf, said, adding whatever the eventual target “it makes no difference, we are prepared for all of it.”

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