IRGC Commander: Regional States Using Iran’s Wartime Experiences

The regional countries are using Iran’s experiences during the 8-year Iraqi-imposed war (1980-1988), a senior commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said, warning that the enemies are countering this role-playing of Iran through helping Takfiri groups.
Today “the same role-model and methods that were used by the Iranian soldiers during the 8-year sacred defense (in the 1980s) are being used in Syria, Iraq and Lebanon and thanks God, they have led to victory”, Commander of the IRGC Ground Forces Quds Base Brigadier General Mohammad Marani said on Tuesday.

“The enemies have today targeted this model and have created the Takfiris and we should be vigilant not to let them tarnish the face of Islam,” he added.

In relevant remarks in November, Iranian Supreme Leader’s senior advisor Ali Akbar Velayati warned that the Takfiri terrorist groups had been created and supported by certain states to taint the image of Islam.

The Iranian Supreme Leader’s aide pointed to the plots hatched by the Takfiri terrorist groups, including the ISIL, to portray an unreal image of Islam and Islamic tenets, and said, “As the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution (Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei) has laid emphasis on the need for Muslim unity, the unity of Muslim scholars is vital for confronting Takfiri and radical thoughts and we hope this meeting could depict the fundamental steps needed to this end.”

Also in September, Velayati warned of the enemies’ plots to sow discord among the regional states, and said the ISIL had been created by the US and Israel to the same end.

“Today, we are witnessing the growth of extremism in certain parts of the Islamic world; the actions made by the extremists and the killing of the innocent Shiite and Sunni people by them raises hatred and disgust of real Muslims and the Islamic Ummah hates such brutalities,” Velayati said, addressing the international conference of Muslim scholars in support of Palestine in Tehran.

He underlined that a precise look at the Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip reveals that Americans and the Zionists were the main source of this extremism, and added, “Those who claim to be exercising Islam (the ISIL) did not fire even one bullet at Israel and when they were asked why, they answered that this is not their mission.”

“It should be said that actually their mission is creating rift among the Islamic Ummah and the Muslims,” Velayati said.

“Those who disrespect the nations and kill the innocent people brutally are not Muslims and they are the hirelings of the aliens and pave the way for the implementation of the US and Israeli plots in the Muslim states and do these actions to weaken the Muslims’ morale,” he underscored.