TEHRAN – The chief commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said on Friday that Iran will not back down from its threat of retribution and that has made the enemies go on the defensive.

Talking to reporters in Tehran on the sidelines of rallies marking the 13th of Aban (4th of November), General Hossein Salami said the people have demanded retribution against the enemies in the wake of the Daesh-claimed terrorist attack on a shrine in Shiraz.

Nationwide rallies were held in Iran on Friday to mark the 13th of Aban, which is National Day of Students and also National Day of Fighting against Global Imperialism.

“During this route, when I was coming in the procession, people were only calling for revenge. Both the enemies and us know very well that this revenge will be taken,” he said.

General Salami also took a jab at the U.S. and its allies in the West Asia region, saying they were on high alert for fear of action by Iran. 

“Today, the same enemies put their forces on alert and are worried that the Islamic Republic will not take any action against them, and accordingly, they are now on the defensive for fear of Iran's action against them. In fact, this reflects our reality,” General Salami said, according to Fars News.

He warned, “The enemies know that we will definitely answer the result of these meddling and evil-inducing actions, but now we ‘cannot say where and how’ we will do this action. Of course, these are issues that remain for us, and later on the day of the incident, the enemies themselves will find out. Whoever takes the peace of our people will not have peace,” said General Salami, commenting on foreign meddling in Iran during the recent wave of unrest that erupted after the death of Mahsa Amini. 

The IRGC chief did not mention any foreign country by name. But earlier he, and other Iranian officials, said the U.S., Israel, and Saudi Arabia were implicated in fomenting the unrest. Earlier, Salami had warned the United States and its regional allies against exacerbating the unrest in Iran.

Speaking on the sideline of a recent IRGC military exercise on the border with the South Caucasus region, General Salami said Saudi Arabia is playing media games with the Iranian youth. “We are warning them in this regard,” he said, according to state news agency IRNA.

“They are openly seeking to provoke our youth. We advise them to exert control over these media outlets. Otherwise, they will pay the price,” he said.

General Salami then directly addressed the Saudis and said, “Note that you have entered this field and know that you are vulnerable. You better be careful.”

In another speech delivered at the funeral ceremony for the victims of the Daesh-claimed attack in Shiraz, General Salami said that the Biden administration, together with its allies in the region, stand behind the unrest.

Addressing Iranian youth, the general said Biden isn’t directly ordering Iranian youth to take to the streets. Instead, he is using complex ways to instigate unrest in Iran, including through the media, the general added. Salami added the unrest in Iran was planned in American and Israeli think tanks.