IRGC commander stresses Iran's preparedness to confront enemies

Tehran, June 2, IRNA – Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Brigadier General Hossein Salami underlined the Iranian Armed Forces' preparedness to confront any possible foreign threats. 'The Iranian nation will not tolerate the strategies of threat, sanction, intimidation and humiliation,' General Salami said on Tuesday. He underlined that the enemy only understands the logic of power and not the power of logic. He was addressing an opening ceremony of a cultural complex in Tehran in commemoration of the martyrs who were martyred in a blast at the IRGC base on November 12, 2011, including General Hassan Tehrani Moqaddam who was in charge of the IRGC's Arms and Military Equipment Self-Sufficiency Program. 'Martyr Tehrani Moqaddam knew enemy well and he (also) knew that they (enemies) only respect the logic of power and not the power of logic,' Brigadier General Salami added. He referred to the US behavior in nuclear negotiations with Iran, and said, 'The Americans say that their approach in the nuclear issue with Iran is not based on confidence, but is based on the logic of verification; this is said by the same Americans who have supported all dictators of the world throughout history.' General Salami said the US is threatening Iran, while its power is very evidently diminishing. Last month, Brigadier General Salami played down the US officials' war rhetoric against Iran, and stressed that the country has prepared itself for the worst case scenario. 'We have prepared ourselves for the most dangerous scenarios and this is no big deal and is simple to digest for us; we welcome war with the US as we do believe that it will be the scene for our success to display the real potentials of our power,' he said. His remarks came after US Secretary of State John Kerry, who leads his country's team in the nuclear talks with Iran, in a charm offensive to rebuild ties with Israel over the Iran policy said recently that military action is still among possible options for Washington. Salami underlined that the era of using force and military power is over, and said the US has gained victory over some countries which had 'rotten' armies and couldn’t resist against aggression and Washington shouldn’t compare the Islamic Republic's powerful Armed Forces with them. The top General warned that Tehran will set fire to every military base from which a hostile US plane takes off for bombing Iran, and said, 'We warn their pilots that their first flight (to target Iran) will be their last one and no one will be allowed to go back safe and sound and they should call their flights as their last flight.' Salami also called on the Iranian officials who are participating in the nuclear negotiations with the world powers to leave the negotiating table if faced with any more threat from the US again.