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Senior Arab Analyst: ‘israel’ Begging Biden to Strike Deal with Iran

Abdel Bari Atwan, the editor-in-chief of Ray al-Youm newspaper, said that Israel which fears the long range and power of Iranian missiles is asking US President-elect Joe Biden to contain Tehran by striking a new deal.

“The Iron Dome could not protect you! You fear the Iranian missiles and are now begging Biden and the Europeans to enter new nuclear talks with Iran with this precondition that Iran should not have precision-striking and long-range missiles,” Atwan said, addressing Israeli officials, and added, “They want a 30-year-long agreement, that is to say they want to add another 15 years to the current agreement and extend it until 2035.”

“Iran has made astonishing progress in area of the missile power and Israel says that it has Iron Dome against it but the Iron Dome has failed and Israel wants to sell them to the Arab states,” he added, noting that Tel Aviv knows the missile shield is of no use against Iranian missiles.

Atwan also referred to Turkey’s greed to purchase missile defense systems, and said Ankara has understood that the US missiles are not efficient and therefore has demanded to buy the Russian S-400 defense shield.

Iranian officials have in the past few years repeated opposition to talks on defense and missile issues, reiterating that the country’s power components are not for compromise.

Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Major General Hossein Salami underlined that enemies can never stop Iran’s progress and development in defense fields or coax the country into negotiations about them.

“We will never stop increasing the defense capabilities and we will not retreat because it is among our redlines and therefore, the issue of defense capabilities is not negotiable, modifiable, stoppable and controllable,” General Salami said, addressing a ceremony in Tehran in November 2019.

Asked if Iran would agree to take part in missile talks under the pressures and US sanctions, he said, “This will never happen.”

General Salami downplayed military threats against Iran, and said, “We ensure the Iranian nation that the talent and capacity of the Iranian Armed Forces and the IRGC are so high that they will confront any enemy, no matter how big, and therefore, the nation should rest assured and live in tranquility because we are capable of defeating any enemy.”

He also warned the enemies against approaching Iran’s borders, saying that with the rapid development of the Iranian missile systems, there is no longer any safe zone for hostile aircraft carriers within or out of Iran’s territorial waters.

“Given the successful mounting of ballistic missiles on (IRGC) speedboats, the enemy’s aircraft carriers will no longer be safe in any spot,” General Salami said.

“This is a pleasant fact for the Muslim World and us, and a painful one for the enemies,” he added.

Noting that the enemy’s sanctions have stimulated the stage of development in the Islamic Republic’s defense sector, the IRGC chief said, “We currently possess precision-guided missiles; only experts can understand the difficulty of turning ballistic missiles into precision-guided ones.”

Major General Salami said such evolutions have made Iran the biggest missile power in the region.

Also, Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei blasted the world powers which oppose Iran’s missile power, and stressed once again that Tehran would not allow others to intrude in its missile and defense programs.

“This issue is none of your (enemies’) business. You (the enemies) want the Iranian nation not to have missiles and other defensive possibilities so that you bully it,” Ayatollah Khamenei said in Tehran in February 2018.

He underlined that production and modernization of all the tools and equipment needed by the country today and tomorrow should be prioritized, and said, “Without even a single moment of doubt, the country should move towards anything that it needs to defend itself even if the world opposes.”

“Of course, we have placed a religious ban on things like nuclear bombs and WMDs but we powerfully pursue any (other) thing that we need,” Ayatollah Khamenei said.

“We are aware of the enemies’ open and secret threats, words and plots but we stress without any moment of doubt that the Islamic Republic which relies on people will become more powerful day by day,” he added.

Ayatollah Khamenei also recited a sentence by the late founder of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini, and said, “The US can do no damn thing.”

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