TEHRAN – Reacting to U.S. military threats against Iran, Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani said the Americans won’t dare attack Iran as they know they will “wind up in a wheelchair” afterwards.

Iran is a tough opponent for them, and the Americans do not get involved with a tough opponent because “we will not go easy on them,” Larijani said in an interview with Lebanese television channel Al Mayadeen published on Friday.

Pointing to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s efforts to unify other countries against Iran, he said if the Americans had been able to actually do anything against Iran, they wouldn’t have wasted their breath traveling from place to place.

“They know they cannot change Iran and cannot change Iran’s behavior as well,” he added.

Making a comparison between the pre- and post-Islamic Revolution Iran, he said the British and American ambassadors used to give orders to the Shah, “but today Iran is an independent country in which democracy is practiced.”

“People choose the rulers, from the Leader of the [Islamic] Revolution who is elected by the Assembly of Experts to the president and Majlis [representatives] who are elected by the people,” the speaker explained.

In similar remarks on Saturday at the opening ceremony of an exhibition showcasing the Islamic Republic’s 40 years of achievements, Larijani said Iran used to be America’s operational base in the region.

“With the Islamic Revolution, an earthquake occurred in the region which was the most important incident of the century and overturned Iran’s conditions,” the top lawmaker added.

Today the status of Iran in the world cannot be ignored, he remarked.

He also said Iran does not bear any hard feelings toward the world and wants to have diplomatic relations with all countries, but “we will not be dependent because the Iranian nation has experienced the poisonous taste of dependency in the past.”

MH/PA