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Guards Official Says Iran Has More Options Than Just 'War Or Negotiation'


Mohammad Saleh Jokar, IRGC's deputy for parliamentary affairs. File photo
Mohammad Saleh Jokar, IRGC's deputy for parliamentary affairs. File photo

A deputy commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has accused a pro-western group of Iranian politicians of "playing into the hands of the enemy" and "trying to impose another JCPOA on Iran"

Fars news agency quoted Mohammad Saleh Jokar, IRGC's deputy commander for parliamentary affairs as having made the remarks at a gathering in Yazd in central Iran on Thursday May 16.

Jokar accuses those who limit Iran's choices to either war or negotiation in the stand-off with the United States.

Mr. Jokar was apparently alluding to President Hassan Rouhani and his administration and their failure in maintaining the nuclear agreement with the United States. But he did not say what other options are possibly open to Iran, except waiting for the result of the U.S. presidential elections in 2020.

He also said, "Some capitalists and pro-Western politicians have an interest in imposing war and misery on Iran," Fars quoted him as saying.

Jokar, however, characterized rumors about an imminent war as "absurd," adding that "U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf are within the range of Iran's missiles."

Iranian officials and media have been sending mixed messages about the possibility of a war with the United States during the past week. Some like Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei assure the nation that "there is no war," in the picture, while at the same time making provocative comments against the U.S. Iran's neighbors in the region.

Jokar is a mid-ranking IRGC figure. Senior commanders have been largely silent Since the U.S. announced the dispatch of more forces to the region.

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