TEHRAN, Iran (AP) – Iran’s top leader, a potential 2021 presidential candidate, has been warned by his advisers that any American attack on the Islamic Republic could lead to a “full-scale war” in the media in Trump’s weak days. Administration.
Speaking to the Associated Press, Hussein Dahag struck a hard line familiar to the people of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guards, which he served long before he became defense minister under President Hassan Rouhani.
One soldier has yet to assume responsibility as Iran’s top civilian leader since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, as part of initial suspicions that his traditional military forces remained loyal to the fallen Shah. But hardliners in recent years have publicly urged Iran to move toward military dictatorship over its economic problems and threats from abroad, especially since President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.
“We do not welcome the crisis. We do not welcome war. Not after we started the war, ”Dehkhan said on Wednesday. “But we’re not after negotiations for negotiations either.”
Dehgan, 63, described himself as a “nationalist” with “no traditional political leanings” during an interview at a wooden panel office in downtown Tehran. He is one of the many people who have registered to run in the June 18 election, as Ruhani is limited to running for re-election. Others include a young technologist with possible intelligence ties to Iranian intelligence And former hard line president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Dehgan’s military service came under the auspices of the group’s presidency, which largely composes Iran’s tightly controlled political sphere. – Reformists who want to gradually change Iran’s theology from within, hardliners who want to strengthen theocracy and the relevant intermediaries between. Those calling for radical change have been barred from running for office by Iran’s powerful constitutional watchdog, the Guardian Council, which serves under Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
While discussing the world as Iran finds itself, Dehgan’s issues mirror many Khameneis. The former head of the Guard’s air force, who has been promoted to brigadier general, said any talks with the West could not include Iran’s ballistic missiles, which he described as “obstructive” for Tehran’s opponents.
Publicity associated with Iran’s missile program has increased in recent weeks. The front page of the English-language Tehran Times on Wednesday shows a map of Iran’s missile range, with the red stars “Back! F!” Under the words marks the American foundation in this field. Printed in large, bold letters. One of the headlines above warned that Iran would respond to “any kind of ambiguous venture by Trump.”
“The Islamic Republic of Iran, its defense forces … will not communicate with anyone under any circumstances,” Dehgan said. “Missiles are a symbol of the vast potential that exists in our experts, youth and industrial centers.”
Dehgan warned against any American military surge in the final week in Trump’s office.
“Limited, strategic conflict can turn into a full-fledged war,” he said. “Certainly, the United States, the region and the world will not be able to stand such a broad crisis.”
President-elect Joe Biden has said he is ready to return to the nuclear deal, which lifted sanctions on Iran in exchange for limiting its uranium enrichment, if Iran adheres to its limits. Since Trump’s retreat, Iran has gone beyond all control of the deal while allowing UN nuclear inspectors to operate in the country. Dehgan said the UN investigation should continue as long as the inspector is not a “spy”.
Subsequently, in July, a state-of-the-art centrifuge assembly plant exploded and caught fire at Iran’s Natanz nuclear site.. Dahegan said reconstruction was underway at Natanz after satellite photos showed new construction on the site.. He called the incident an “industrial sabotage.”
“Those who were in charge of installing some of the devices made some changes there that caused the explosion,” Dehghan said, without elaborating.
De Dehgan will be seen in Washington and Paris with suspicion of the presidency. As a young commander in the Guard, Dehghan oversaw his operations in Lebanon and Syria between 1982 and 1984, according to an official autobiography given to the Iranian parliament in 2013, an Israeli settlement in Israel, Mediast, he attacked only Lebanon in the midst of the country’s civil war. .
In 1983, a suicide bomber in a truck loaded with military-grade explosives struck a U.S. military base in Beirut. The Marines attacked the barracks, 241 American soldiers and 58 French soldiers were killed. Iran has long denied involvement, with a U.S. district court judge holding Tehran responsible in 2003. The ruling said Iran’s ambassador to Syria at the time was “called a member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and instructed him to detonate a Marine barrack bomb.”
Dehgan strongly denied that he was involved in the bombing, although he was the top commander of the guards there at the time.
He said, “The U.S. Trying to connect anything that happens in the world with someone in Iran. “Do they really have evidence? Why do they associate it with me? ”
He wanted to avoid conflict, while Dehg warned that Israel’s growing presence in the media could turn into a “strategic mistake.” Israel has only reached a normalization deal with Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.
“It’s opening up a broader front,” he said. “Imagine that every Israeli at any military base could be a target for groups opposing Israel.”
Dehghan also said that the U.S. forces in Baghdad In retaliation for the drone strike, Iran continues to expel all American forces from the region, including the assassination of Guard General Qasim Solimani., Head of its Expeditionary Kids Force in January. The strike saw Iran launch a retaliatory ballistic missile strike on US troops in Iraq. That wounded dozens and almost started the war.
Dehkhan said Iran’s retaliatory strike was only an “initial slap”. And partly because of that. Negotiations with will not yield easy returns, he added.
“We are not looking for a situation in which (the other party) buys time to weaken our nation,” he said.
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Gambler reports from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. Isabel DeBrey, an Associated Press writer in Dubai, contributed to the report.
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