Iran Downplays US Aggressive Threats

A senior Iranian commander dismissed US Secretary of Defense Ash Carter’s recent threats, and stressed Tehran’s preparedness to respond to any aggressive move crushingly.

“Our response to such baseless comments will be decisive; we will answer any aggression mightily and our resistance doesn’t need to be proved since we proved our capabilities during the 8-year-long holy defense (Iraqi-imposed war on Iran),” Commander of Khatam ol-Anbia Air Defense Base Brigadier General Farzad Esmayeeli said in Tehran on Monday.

He also reminded that the Iranian Air Defense Force knows no boundaries for defending the country’s achievements, adding that his force’s capabilities and preparedness will be revealed to everyone in action.

Carter claimed in an interview with the CNN on Friday that the current framework for a deal with Iran did not take the military option off the table and that bunker busting bombs, meant to penetrate Iran’s underground facilities, are “ready to go”, adding that a deal with Iran would not be based on “trust” but on “verification”.

Carter’s remarks came after Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei’s opposition to the inspection of Iran’s military centers under any final deal with the world powers.

On Saturday Deputy Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Brigadier General Massoud Jazzayeri said the remarks showed “the low level of Carter’s wisdom and understanding and “the American negotiating side’s biasedness”.

He underscored that earlier during their negotiations, the Iranian officials had also reiterated the ban on any visit or inspection of Iran’s military and defensive centers and facilities.

Jazzayeri said that another reason for the US officials’ insistence on inspection of Iran’s military centers was that “the Islamic Republic of Iran’s defensive capabilities are its heavy stick against the excessive demands of the foreigners and enemies of our nation”.

Addressing a large number of Iranian people in Tehran on Thursday, Ayatollah Khamenei specified conditions for a final nuclear deal with the world powers, and underlined that Iran doesn’t allow any inspection of its defensive and military centers.

“They (the foreigners) shouldn’t be allowed at all to penetrate into the country’s security and defensive boundaries under the pretext of supervision, and the country’s military officials are not permitted at all to allow the foreigners to cross these boundaries or stop the country’s defensive development under the pretext of supervision and inspection,” Ayatollah Khamenei said.

Elaborating on his position on the recent nuclear statement issued by Iran and the Group 5+1 (the US, Russia, China, Britain and France plus Germany) in Lausanne, Switzerland, he said, “I am neither in favor nor against it since nothing has happened yet and no binding issue has occurred between the two sides.”

Ayatollah Khamenei underscored that he would support a final deal which would guarantee the Iranian nation’s honor and interests, and added, “I am not indifferent to the negotiations but I have not interfered in the details of the negotiations by now and will not interfere in the future either.”

Stressing that the underway talks between Tehran and the world powers were merely limited to the nuclear issue, he advised the Iranian officials and negotiators not to trust the other side as their untrustworthiness was seen in the recent remarks by US President Barack Obama after the joint nuclear statement.

Ayatollah Khamenei stressed the necessity for continued progress in the country’s nuclear Research and Development (R&D) and development of the nuclear industry, and said another important issue in the final deal is that “the sanctions should be removed completely on the same day (of the implementation) of any agreement”.