"If the U.S. decides to start a war against Iran, all its military bases in the region will be made insecure," warned General Yahta Rahim Safavi, special aide the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on military affairs, on July 14.
He also maintained that Iran’s missiles can hit regions 2,000 kilometers away from its borders.
“The final goal of wars is the imposition of one country’s political will on other countries and nations. Such impositions are possible either through occupying a part of a country or installing particular ruling system there,” Mehr News Agency (MNA) reported Safavi as saying.
Reflecting on the end of an era when two superpowers practically dominated the world, Safavi claimed, “U.S. power is in decline, and its inability to end Syrian unrest and impose Washington’s will on Damascus indicates that.”
Safavi, who served as chief commander of the IRGC between 1997 and 2007, also made a veiled threat against Washington with Iran’s long-range missiles.
Israeli officials have described the Iranian missiles as a direct threat to the existence of their country.
After U.S. military intervention in Afghanistan and Iraq, Khamenei and his close allies have repeatedly asserted that Iran, if militarily threatened by the United States, would retaliate in full force and jeopardize American interests in the world.
Meanwhile, Iranian authorities, referring to Iran’s military capabilities, emphasized that a U.S. military attack on Iran is implausible.
Nevertheless, several conservatives in Tehran still accuse Donald Trump’s administration of moving forward on a warpath with Iran.
Trump has, time and again, criticized JCPOA (Iran’s nuclear deal with the world powers) as a “very bad” agreement. He has also warned Iranian authorities that Washington is closely watching them.
Furthermore, in comments eliciting a bitter response from Iranian officials, U.S. State Secretary Rex Tillerson explicitly declared that Washington, by supporting some elements inside Iran, seeks a peaceful change there.
Meanwhile, Fars News Agency quoted Safavi as saying, “Tehran would never underestimate its enemies and will always continue to boost its domestic power and capability in all aspects of military, economy, and culture.”
However, President Hassan Rouhani, described as a moderate, during his re-election campaign, tacitly accused the IRGC of trying to undermine the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action by exhibiting Iran’s underground missile silos.
Ignoring Rouhani’s comments, the commander-in-chief of the IRGC’s Aerospace force, Amir Ali Hajizadeh, reporting that the launch of Iran’s third underground missile silos promised Tehran’s missile power would be enhanced.