US in tatters from within, isolated overseas: IRGC chief

General Hossein Salami was speaking on the sidelines of an event held in the capital Tehran to honor one million veterans of the country’s 1980-88 defense against the invasion led by former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

“The United States has fallen to pieces from within and is becoming increasingly isolated on the outside,” Salami said.

“The dignified Iranian nation should not have any worries, and must live in tranquility,” he added.

The IRGC chief said, “The United States has lost its own symbols and even the people of the country are now saying ‘death to the United States,’ knocking down symbolic statues and burning the American flag.”

The United States has been the scene of widespread demonstrations in condemnation of police violence and racial injustice against people of color since the brutal murder of African American George Floyd in late May, when a white police officer knelt on his neck for over eight minutes in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The killing has revived the debate about race relations in America and prompted minority groups across the country to vent their long-felt indignation about systemic racism, also breathing new life into the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement.

In some American cities, protesters have pulled down or defaced statues and monuments of historical figures, such as the Confederate leaders, who backed slavery.

Salami’s new assertions came after earlier on Saturday, he took part in a live televised interview warning that any act of aggression by the US against Tehran would pan out in a different manner than that of any other war the United States has fought.

Salami said the US lacks the determination and ability to engage in a military confrontation with Iran. “Tehran does not want war but is not afraid of it either.”

Referring to the assassination of Iran’s Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani, the IRGC chief said the incident not only failed to weaken the resistance front in the region, but only strengthened it.

General Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force of the IRGC, was assassinated in a terrorist US airstrike at Baghdad airport on January 3, along with Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the second-in-command of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), and a number of their companions.

The strike, conducted at the direction of US President Donald Trump, came while General Soleimani was on an official visit to the Iraqi capital.

Both commanders were highly revered because of the key role they played in eliminating the US-sponsored Daesh Takfiri terrorist group in the region, particularly in Iraq and Syria.

In response to the act of terror, the IRGC fired volleys of ballistic missiles at two US bases in Iraq on January 8. According to the US Defense Department, more than 100 American forces suffered “traumatic brain injuries” during the counterstrikes. The IRGC, however, says Washington uses the term to mask the number of the US-led coalition’s forces who were injured in the attack.

Anti-American sentiments have been running high in Iraq after the two senior commanders were assassinated. Iraqi lawmakers unanimously passed a bill on January 5 that mandated the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Iraq.

Iraqi resistance groups have pledged to take up arms against US forces if Washington fails to comply with the parliamentary order.