Commander: Iran Holds Deep Distrust of US

Tehran is holding deep distrust of the US since American officials have never been honest to Iran, a senior Iranian military official said after western analysts said nomination of Chuck Hagel for the post of the US Defense Secretary means Washington’s willingness to start rapprochement with Iran.

Speaking to FNA about the US President’s pick for the post of Defense Secretary, Chuck Hagel, and his alleged stance against anti-Iran economic sanction, Lieutenant Commander of Khatam ol-Anbia Air Defense Base for Inspection General Mohammad Jafar Assadi said such remarks are in line with the US interests.

“That is why we cannot trust those who have been lying to us for 34 years,” Assadi stated.

He described the US as “Iran’s greatest enemy” and the Zionist regime of Israel as “the greatest threat to Iran”.

In similar remarks this week, Lieutenant Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Brigadier General Hossein Salami underscored the necessity for practical changes in Washington’s wrong approaches towards Iran, and said Tehran will judge the US by its actions not by words.

Speaking to reporters in Tehran at the time, Salami pointed to the recent change in the US Defense Department and the US President’s pick for the post of Defense Secretary, Chuck Hagel, and said, “We assume the US as a system of thoughts and politics and our historical experience tells us that change of figures will not cause any specific change in the thinking system and values of the hegemonic systems.”

“We have learned that there are major contradictions and a far distance between the words and practice of the western powers and we will adapt ourselves to their deeds and not words,” the commander underscored.

He added that Iran doesn’t trust the statements made by the western officials unless “practical changes are made by the hegemonic systems”.