KHORRAMABAD – The Commander of the IRGC Aerospace Force has said that ‘evil efforts’ by the enemies has led to a change in Iran's defense strategy and Iran ‘will counter threat with threat’, the Mehr News Agency reported.  

“The United States and the Zionist regime’s evil and satanic moves have caused us to change our defense strategy, and on orders of the supreme commander in chief, we will make threats in the face of enemies’ threats,” Amir Ali Hajizadeh told a gathering of 10,000 Basijis in the western city of Khorramabad on Saturday.  

Elsewhere in his speech, Hajizadeh said that undoubtedly, the command of forming the 20-million Basij force has been “one of the most strategic and crucial decisions” of Imam Khomeini.

Commenting on the vital role of Basij in countering potential attacks against Iran since the victory of the Islamic Revolution, he said a “qualitative and quantitative” review of conspiracies hatched against Iran all through the past three decades indicates that each of them had the potential to overthrow a powerful country. 

NATO has deployed a missile shield system in Turkey to counter potential missile threats by Iran.

"If we are threatened, initially we are prepared to target the NATO missile shields in Turkey and then we target” other places, the commander warned. 

He also said after Turkey the United States is seeking to deploy missile shields in one of the Arab countries bordering the Persian Gulf.

He added, “We constantly monitor the movements of the enemies of the revolution and Iran, and have no concern about (possible) military movements by enemies, and day by day we get more prepared for resistance.” 

The commander also said in addition to economic sanction the enemy has started a complicated cultural onslaught against the Iranian nation and this entails vigilance on the part of the nation. 

In a “hot war” the armed forces and Basijis enter the scene but in “the soft war all people should fight it, he noted.