Iranian Presidency handout [Source: Iranian Presidency handout]

War rhetoric ratchets up again as Iranian president says his people will never give up the fight for their independence.

Iran will not surrender to US pressure and will never abandon its goals even if it is attacked, President Hassan Rouhani said on Thursday.

Earlier in the day, Iran’s top military chief said the standoff between Tehran and Washington was a “clash of wills”, warning any enemy “adventurism” would meet a crushing response, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.

Tensions are festering between the two countries after Washington sent more military hardware to the Middle East in a show of force against what US officials say are Iranian threats to its troops and interests in the region.

After pulling out of Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, US President Donald Trump restored punishing American sanctions on Iran last year and tightened them this month, ordering all countries to halt imports of Iranian oil or face sanctions of their own.

“More than one year after the imposition of these severe sanctions, our people have not bowed to pressures despite facing difficulties in their lives,” Rouhani was quoted by the state news agency IRNA as saying.

Addressing a ceremony in commemoration of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, he added: “We need resistance so our enemies know that if they bomb our land, and if our children are martyred, wounded or taken as prisoners, we will not give up on our goals for the independence of our country and our pride.”