Iran’s hardline leadership, in power since the assassination of the ayatollah by Donald Trump, is intensifying its rhetoric on constructing a nuclear weapon. The regime boldly asserts it has a million fighters ready for a potential US ground invasion.

Prominent figures within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) are now contemplating an open pursuit of nuclear capabilities, challenging US-Israeli military actions.

Since the passing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at the onset of hostilities, the IRGC hardliners have solidified their control over Iran. Despite Trump’s claims of dismantling Iran’s hardline leadership, the regime has proven resilient, with each new leader seemingly more determined and vengeful than the previous.

Historically, Iran has denied ambitions to develop nuclear weapons, with Khamenei labeling such weapons as contrary to Islamic principles. Nevertheless, Western intelligence has consistently reported Iran’s covert enrichment and accumulation of uranium, suggesting a hidden agenda for weapon development.

Iranian authorities are now weighing the option of withdrawing from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, possibly abandoning their previous nuclear disarmament stance.

Insiders revealed to Reuters that ongoing US-Israeli military strikes have led Tehran to believe that developing a nuclear weapon might be a strategic necessity.

Trump on Thursday extended his deadline to not strike Iranian energy plants, writing on Truth Social: ‘As per Iranian Government request, please let this statement serve to represent that I am pausing the period of Energy Plant destruction by 10 Days to Monday, April 6, 2026, at 8 P.M., Eastern Time. Talks are ongoing and, despite erroneous statements to the contrary by the Fake News Media, and others, they are going very well.’

Iranian state media, meanwhile, claims more than one million troops have been mobilized in preparation for a US ground invasion to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. 

The buildup comes amid growing threats from Trump to seize Kharg Island, a key oil hub that helps control the vital waterway.

Israel is engaging in a wide range of military strikes across the Middle East, including in Gaza and Lebanon, where Iran’s proxies are active against Netanyahu’s forces (pictured: a fireball erupts following an Israeli strike near a tent encampment sheltering people displaced by war in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on March 25)

Leaders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps are now considering publicly pursuing a nuclear weapon in defiance of US-Israeli strikes

The buildup comes amid growing threats from Trump to seize Kharg Island, a key oil hub that helps control the vital waterway

Trump claims to have wiped out Iran’s hardline mullahs, but the Islamic regime is proving to be a hydra, with each new head tougher and more intent on vengeance than the last

Iranian state media, meanwhile, claims more than one million troops have been mobilized in preparation for a US ground invasion to reopen the Strait of Hormuz

Trump has threaten to launch new strikes on Iran if they do not agree to a ceasefire

Iran has begun reinforcing the island by laying traps such as anti-personnel and anti-armor mines along likely landing zones. 

US officials have warned the administration that any ground operation would carry significant risks, including the potential for high numbers of American casualties.

Pentagon chiefs ordered around 2,000 paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division to the Middle East last night to join some 4,500 Marines already en route to the region, as Trump’s peace push shows signs of collapse.

Hardline politician Mohammad Javad Larijani, brother of senior official Ali Larijani who was killed in a strike last Tuesday, was quoted by state media this week urging Iran to suspend its membership of the NPT.

‘The NPT should be suspended. We should form a committee to assess whether the NPT is of any use to us at all. If it proves useful, we will return to it. If not, they can keep ​it,’ he said.

Earlier in the month, state television aired a segment with conservative commentator Nasser Torabi in which he said the Iranian public demanded: ‘We need to act in order to ​build a nuclear weapon. Either we build it or we acquire it.’

The President has said he is prepared to pull the trigger on a full-scale invasion if Tehran continues to rebuff his diplomatic overtures, according to members of his inner circle.

‘Trump has a hand open for a deal, and the other is a fist, waiting to punch you in the f***ing face,’ a Trump aide told Axios.

US officials have warned the administration that any ground operation would carry significant risks, including the potential for high numbers of American casualties

The 15-point plan, modeled on Trump’s Gaza deal, would require Iran to dismantle all nuclear and long-range missile capabilities, open the Strait of Hormuz, and abandon proxy terror groups.

But Iranian state TV on Wednesday said that the regime had rejected the ceasefire proposal. Instead, Tehran is demanding the closure of all US bases in the Gulf, reparations, and an end to Israeli military strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Tehran is also seeking to bring the strait – a chokepoint for roughly a fifth of the world’s oil – under its control, allowing it to charge transit fees on passing vessels, much like Egypt does with the Suez Canal.

A Trump official described Iran’s demands as ‘ridiculous’ and ‘unrealistic’, warning that reaching a deal is now more difficult than before the war began as the President prepares a potential ground invasion force.