LONDON (Reuters) - A senior commander in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Monday that Tehran would “firmly punish” aggressors who attack the country, as tensions rise between Iran and the United States and its regional allies.

“Islamic Iran has reached a level ... to protect its borders by effective military capabilities, and firmly punish any aggressor,” Brigadier General Ramezan Sharif, spokesman for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA, in a rally celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Islamic revolution.