Iran's armed forces spokesman Brigadier General Abolfazl Shekarchi said on April 2 that Tehran was waiting for a US ground operation so it could inflict losses severe enough to deter American military recruitment "for generations," in his most graphic warning yet against a land invasion, state media reported. 

The war of words between Iran and the US and Israel continues to worsen as a potential invasion by the US military remains on the cards, according to military watchers in the next few hours. 

"We are waiting for America's ground operation to begin so we can create a slaughterhouse for them that will ensure nobody volunteers for the US army," Shekarchi said in a live television interview.

"In close-quarters, face-to-face combat, we will inflict such horrors on the Americans that the terror created will mean no one volunteers for the US military for several generations to come," he said.

Shekarchi claimed Iranian forces had destroyed a second US AWACS aircraft worth $700mn using a $30,000 Iranian drone, calling it a first in military history. The claim could not be independently verified.

He mocked Trump's assertion that Iran's military had been destroyed. "If you have destroyed us, are the missiles and drones being fired at your soldiers and bases coming from Mars?" he said.

Shekarchi said Trump had entered the war based on "wrong calculations" for two reasons: "First, Trump's debt to Mossad and the Zionists because of the Epstein island files, and second, a wrong assessment of the Iranian people, officials and power."

He described Trump as "the most dishonest, disgraced and contemptible president in American history."

The spokesman said the Strait of Hormuz would "remain closed to Americans and Zionists long-term" and that even if Washington declared an end to hostilities, Iran would not stop.

"Even if they suddenly announce the end of the war, we will not let them go. We will avenge the blood of our martyrs," he said.

On Iran's weapons stockpile, Shekarchi said only a "negligible portion" of munitions had been used or damaged. "You cannot find our main strategic weapons production centres, and even if you did, you could not damage them," he said.

He said US soldiers were hiding in hotels and civilian locations rather than military positions. "In a ground war there will be no shelters. Our strategy is the expulsion of Americans from West Asia," he said.

The Pentagon has put US losses at 13 killed and 348 wounded since February 28. Independent verification of battlefield claims from either side remains extremely difficult.