Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
Ayatollah Ali KhameneiReuters

The Iranian Navy Commander on Sunday said that the United States, which possesses the most powerful military in the world, doesn't have the "capability" to attack Iran, in the latest escalation of hostility from Tehran since the controversial nuclear deal last July.

Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi, Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy, was quoted by the Iranian Fars News Agency making the bombastic statement at a ceremony in the central Iranian city of Yazd.

"The US doesn’t have the capability to launch a military attack against Iran and knows that in such a case, the damage and blows that it will have to sustain will be way beyond its merits and gains," claimed Fadavi.

Referencing the Iran-Iraq War from 1980 to 1988, he said, "now, 26 years after the Iraqi-imposed war, the US is aware that it cannot launch an offensive against the Islamic Iran and is sure that the Iranians enjoy very high power and capability to confront it."

Fadavi's remarks were not the lone comments of a naval commander, but rather echoed the statements of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei from last Wednesday.

Addressing the Iranian Students' Islamic Association in Tehran, Khamenei said, "sometimes, they (the US) threaten us with war and bombing, but these statements are nonsense overstatement since they aren’t prepared and don’t dare to do so and if, possibly, they embark on such an act, they will receive a slap in the face and a crushing response."

He said there is a "soft war" being waged against Iran, claiming, "now a comprehensive and creeping soft war is underway on the youth between the Islamic Republic of Iran on one hand and the US, the Zionists and their followers on the other hand."

US Representatives are working to stop US President Barack Obama from lifting sanctions on Iran, noting on Iran's open hostility and how it continues to be the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism.