TEHRAN (FNA) – Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi, the top military aide to the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, underscores Iran’s high deterrence power, warning enemies of an immediate crushing response in case of any aggression.

“We are not the starter of any war and aggression against any country and this has several times been stated by Supreme Leader (Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei who is also commander-in-chief of the Iranian Armed Forces). But if enemies, including the Zionists or the Americans, make a move against us at any level, we have a strong defense and deterrence power too and will hit unimaginable reciprocal blows on them and their interests and military bases,” General Rahim Safavi told FNA on Saturday.

He stressed that Iran is stronger than all its 15 neighbors, except Russia, in the military field, and said Tehran and Moscow are coordinated in anti-terrorism fight in Syria and are neighbors via the sea.

General Rahim Safavi explained that in case of an enemy aggression against Iran, “we will inflict the most crushing and most surprising strikes on them not just in areas around the country but also beyond in the seas”, adding that this is the strategy devised by Ayatollah Khamenei for the Armed Forces.

General Rahim Safavi warns: “If enemies make a move against us at any level, we have a strong defense and deterrence power too and will hit unimaginable reciprocal blows.”
 

In relevant remarks late last month, Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Major General Hossein Salami reviewed the technological advancements of Iran’s defense industry in the face of possible U.S. scenarios against Tehran, reassuring that his country had successfully exhausted all enemies’ capacity for various types of warfare.

“A guidance and control system capable of steering a ballistic missile to hit a mobile target is a miracle of technology which is possessed by maybe one or two countries (in the world),” Major General Salami said.

“Twelve years ago it happened,” he added, reminding that Iran test-fired a ballistic missile in 2007 which hit a target three times smaller than a U.S. aircraft carrier on the sea. “The aircraft carriers’ scenario is over for us,” reiterated the commander, reassuring that his country is capable of drowning hostile vessels in the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea.

He added that the country’s enemies had unsuccessfully exhausted all of their capacity for various types of warfare against the Islamic Republic.

Salami said Iran’s enemies had already attempted maximum pressure against Iran in every area — including economic, cultural, and political ones — to no effect.

“Today, we are a great and invincible power because we have experienced and defeated all of the enemy’s scenarios,” Major General Salami said. “We have been able to shatter enemy’s psychological operations and dry up their capacity for war.”

He said the power of Iran’s enemies was on the decline whereas the Islamic Republic’s might was growing.

“Today, Iran’s reach is no more confined to within its borders; today, Iran is a robust power in the region,” he said.

SP/