Iran's army chief says forces on high alert, nuclear program 'cannot be eliminated'

TEHRAN, Iran — Iranian army chief Amir Hatami warns the United States and Israel against an attack, saying his country’s forces were on high alert after Washington’s heavy military deployments in the Gulf.

“If the enemy makes a mistake, without a doubt it will endanger its own security, the security of the region, and the security of the Zionist regime,” says Hatami, according to the official IRNA news agency, noting that Iran’s armed forces were “at full defensive and military readiness.”

Hatami also says that Iran’s nuclear program could not be destroyed, even by force.

“The nuclear science and technology of the Islamic Republic of Iran cannot be eliminated, even if scientists and sons of this nation are martyred,” Hatami says, according to the official IRNA news agency.