An Iranian senior official said the country will consider any attack “as an all-out war” after Donald Trump revealed US military vessels and aircraft are presently travelling towards Iran.

“This military ‌build-up – we hope it is ‌not intended for real confrontation – but our military is ready for the worst-case scenario. This is why everything is on high alert in Iran,” said the Iranian official, speaking ‌to Reuters on condition of ⁠anonymity, quoted by Sky News. The official went on to say: “This time we will treat any attack – limited, unlimited, surgical, kinetic, whatever they call it – as an all-out war against us, and we will respond in the hardest way possible to settle this.”

“We have a lot of ships on their way to Iran,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Thursday. “We’ll see what happens. We have a big force on its way over there. I’d rather not see anything happen, but we’re watching them very closely.”

The announcement follows Trump’s backing of anti-government demonstrators in Iran, which erupted last month and the mighty American aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln is relentlessly sailing from the Asia-Pacific to the Middle East.

Another senior Iranian military official warned of severe retaliation against the United States when President Donald Trump called Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei a “sick man” and said it was time for new leadership in Tehran, state media reported.

Brigadier General Abolfazl Shekarchi said: “We do not take Trump’s noise very seriously. Trump knows that if a hand is stretched toward our leader, we will not only cut that hand off-we will set their world on fire. This is not a slogan.”

The demonstrations erupted in late December when traders started protesting against the plummeting currency value and rising living costs, which then escalated into broader anti-government unrest.

Iranian state media claims that more than 3,000 have died during a government suppression of dissent.

US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency recently calculated that 4,519 were killed during the wave of protests, including 4,251 demonstrators, 197 security forces, 35 people under 18 years old and 38 bystanders, whilst noting that approximately 9,049 additional fatalities remain under investigation. Thousands more have also been detained.