IRGC Goes to High Alert as US Refuelling Tankers Circle the Gulf

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has been placed on high alert over the possibility of a US strike overnight, according to unverified social media reports. Footage circulating online showed IRGC trucks tucked away in a tunnel in Lorestan province, in western Iran. The claims have not been independently confirmed.

The alert talk landed right after FlightRadar data showed multiple US Air Force aerial refuelling tankers active across the Middle East, with at least two over the Persian Gulf. A separate FlightRadar snapshot put at least two Boeing KC-46A Pegasus tankers over the Gulf as of 4:29 pm ET, both having taken off from Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, a base Iran struck with missiles during hostilities earlier this year. A Boeing KC-135R Stratotanker was also spotted in the air.

Behind the hardware, the diplomacy is stuck. Iran's National Security Council secretary, Mohsen Rezaei, said Tuesday that Washington's response "regarding Iran's rights and demands was insufficient," and that the US must fully address Iran's seven conditions. Only then, he wrote on X, will the Strait of Hormuz reopen.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei meanwhile shot down a report that Tehran and Washington had reached a preliminary agreement in indirect talks through mediators, telling state broadcaster IRIB that past experience rules out optimism about America's seriousness on diplomacy. He did confirm messages are still being exchanged, and said Tehran won't miss a diplomatic opening while staying ready to defend itself.

Israel has separately warned the US about Iran's potential use of chemical weapons against its adversaries, sources told The New York Times. Some US officials reportedly read the intelligence as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's push to get the Trump administration back into military action, while others say it deserves to be taken seriously. Tehran has repeatedly denied possessing chemical weapons.

Arab media reported Washington is waiting on Iran's reply to the latest peace proposal. With tankers in the air and speculation swirling about a strike coming right after the midterms, the next few hours look anything but quiet.