Revolutionary Guards commander mocks American threat that all options remain on the table, saying it has become a joke
An adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has called continued American threats of a military option against Iran “ridiculous” and laughable.
Brigadier General Mohammad Ali Asoudi, Khamenei’s representative in the Revolutionary Guards, said President Barack Obama’s insistence that Iran could still be confronted militarily should it shirk its obligations under the nuclear deal had become a joke to Iranian officials, the Fars news agency reported Wednesday.
“We should thank Obama for refreshing us by referring to his ‘Options On The Table,’ including the military one,” he said while addressing troops in the city of Shahroud. “We just relax and laugh at such ridiculous words.”
In late July a top Iranian general said Iran would deal the US a crushing defeat in response to the slightest hostile action against the Islamic republic.
“Today the US knows that the slightest move against the Islamic Iran will ruin its house of dream,” Brigadier General Hossein Salami, deputy commander of the Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said.
The commander of the IRGC boasted earlier Wednesday of the nation’s “immense power” and said it possessed “very advanced technologies” to repel any threats to the Islamic Republic.
“Today, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps has immense power with reliance on people and faith [in God], and by possessing very advanced technologies, it is ready to counter any foreign threat,” said Major-General Mohammad Ali Jafari.
Last month, Jafari criticized the Iranian nuclear agreement signed between Tehran and six world powers, saying the pact was unacceptable and “clearly in contradiction” of the Islamic Republic’s red lines.
“Some parts of the draft have clearly crossed the Islamic Republic’s red lines, especially in Iran’s military capabilities. We will never accept it,” Jafari said.
The agreement calls on Iran to slash its enrichment activity by two-thirds and open up its nuclear facilities to inspections, including military sites.
The elite IRGC force is considered to be closely allied to the militant flank of Iran’s ruling regime.
Iranian political leaders, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, have endorsed the deal, but also continued to issue fiery diatribes against the US and Israel in what some see as a bid to soothe fears by hard-liners that the deal portrays Tehran as softening.
As reported by The Times of Israel