Guard Commanders Welcome War

With the breakdown of the latest round of talks between the West and the Islamic republic over Iran’s nuclear program and as Western officials express hopelessness in continuing the talks, senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) authorities once again embarked on threatening remarks against the West and boasting their military prowess.

General Hossein Salami, the deputy commander of the IRGC announced in a televised interview, “We can hit all our mobile targets with 100 percent accuracy with our ballistic missiles that can travel elliptically and at several times the speed of sound when they re-enter the atmosphere. These missiles can seldom be tracked and destroyed.”

“In our operational plans we have defined a deterrent region in which all the operational interests of the enemy have been identified so that we can manage the conflict at any level if a war breaks out,” he asserted. “Through the other parts of this defense capability we can attack both the enemy’s strategy and also its vital interests anywhere of our choice at the same level at which we are attacked and act in a manner that will give us exponential control of the conflict.”

Salami also boosted to have unlimited weapons and arms. “Our defense potential is so great that sometimes our brothers in the IRGC aerospace force have limitations in space in storing them,” he boasted.

The commander of the IRGC aerospace command echoed these claims. “The Islamic republic has absolutely no interests in a war with other countries. At the same time, we shall respond firmly to any possible attacks by the enemy and shall give regretful response to them.” General Amir-Ali Hajizadeh said, “Threats, sanctions and pressure and the scenarios of Western countries. But these pressures and threats will produce the opposite results and shall result in a higher level of preparedness and ability for our country.”

The deputy of operations of the General Command of Iran’s armed forces General Mostafa Izadi also spoke in length with Fars news agency that is affiliated to the Guards. “Just as the supreme leader has said, Nuclear energy is not the issue that the West has with us. They are after confronting the whole Islamic regime,” he said. Regarding the possibility of a military strike by Israel, Izadi said, “The Islamic republic has a high potential and if the Zionist regime decides to act against us, it will be initiating its own end and without any doubt they cannot inflict any damage to this revolution and this regime.”

“If they decide to act rationally, these threats are merely psychological warfare but if they want to act irrationally then they will most certainly face defeat,” he asserted.

He added, “If the enemy threatens us, we shall utilize all our potential to respond to it. For example, if the enemy creates obstacles for our oil, we can utilize other potentials that we have and in return create our threats. We shall threaten in return for being threatened and in the domain of actions we shall engage them firmly.”

While he did not indicate what other potential he was referring to, other commanders had earlier said that if Iran’s oil was boycotted, then they would shut the Straits of Hormuz through which the oil exports of the Persian Gulf states, including that of Iran, flow, as a way to prevent all other regional oil exporters from exporting their oil as well.

These threatening remarks come amid Tehran’s insistence on continuing its nuclear program which the West has called pursues a nuclear weapons program.

In the US, a group of senators signed a letter to President Obama calling the talks with the Islamic republic dangerous and as a way to buy time. They stressed that talks in Moscow would be the last chance for Iran and wrote that Tehran was after the production of nuclear weapons.

Threats from Iranian authorities against Western countries and Israel, and counter-threats from the latter have raised tension in the region, particularly among Arab states so that some speculations are that a war would break out in the region. In this context, Nikolai Makarov, the chief of staff of Russia’s armed forces told reporters in February that “Iran has been targeted and I think that the West will decide about attacking Iran’s nuclear program in summer.”