IRGC General: Arab NATO to Fail

“When the United States and the Zionist regime and Saudi Arabia were at the peak of their power, the coalitions that they built to counter the resistance front and the Islamic Republic had no other result, but failure,” Javani said on Monday.

“An example is the coalition that the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia formed along with many other countries against the oppressed nation of Yemen. However, they got nothing, but humiliating defeat,” the IRGC commander added.

General Javani made the remarks in reference to US President Joe Biden’s forthcoming visit to Middle East and Washington’s plan to build a regional security alliance to fight off what it calls the “threat from Iran”.

Discussions on the plan are still at an early stage and have already met resistance from several Arab countries who refuse to do business with Israel.

Javani mentioned the alliance formed by the United States, Saudi Arabia and “about 100 European and regional countries” to bring down the government of Syria as another example, and said, “Despite spending trillions of dollars over these years … everyone saw they were defeated and today, the resistance front is more powerful than ever before.”

“Therefore, it is quite easy to predict the possible fate of the [so-called] Arab NATO. Compared to the past coalitions, the new alliance will be even weaker and lack effectiveness in the face of the resistance front and the Islamic Republic of Iran,” the IRGC commander noted.

He added that the existing trends in Middle East prove that the US has to leave the region followed by the annihilation of the Zionist regime and their allies “and there is no factor to change these trends”.

Iran has repeatedly made clear that its homegrown military capabilities remain defensive and deterrent in nature and are intended to keep foreign intruders from destabilizing the region. It has also urged the Persian Gulf states to quit relying on foreign powers for their security, reminding that regional security can only be achieved through collective efforts by the neighboring states.

Early on Monday, Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Ashtiani described improving the combat capability of the country’s armed forces as the most important priority for his ministry.

Ashtiani said enhancing the Iranian armed forces’ combat power is of utmost significance as the rivals and enemies are constantly flexing their military muscles.

“The most important priority for the ministry of defense is to strengthen the combat capability of the armed forces in the face of threats and upgrade the defense systems and innovations that will be needed in the future,” he noted. 

“The battle scene and the requirements of the armed forces units are constantly changing due to the type of threats, which makes progress in all-out defense, implementing the capacity of scientific and knowledge-based centers, as well as updating defense knowledge within the defense industry doubly significant,” the minister added.