Alwaght- West Asia region has kept sinking more than ever in crisis and seemingly unending tensions since Donald Trump assumed the power in the US. While only two months are left to the presidential election, the US has escalated tensions with Iran unprecedentedly. Meanwhile, the commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) General Hussein Salami at a military ceremony marking the 40th anniversary of Iraq's war against Iran made highly attention-grabbing remarks addressing the US. They carried message to the US and its ally Israeli regime.
Revenging General Soleimani assassination
Certainly, the most important part of General Salami’s remarks was that related to the revenge against “all those participated in martyrdom” of IRGC’s Quds Force commander General Qassem Soleimani who was assassinated by a US drone strike at Baghdad airport while making a visit to Iraq On February 3, along with Iraq’s PMF Deputy Commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.
The revenge is important from two aspects: First, taking revenge from the people constituting the first and second layers of the assassination. Second, the possibility of comprehensive military action against “terrorist” American forces in the region if the need arises.
In the first message, it should be taken into account that the first defendants of the assassination are President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Defense Secretary Mark Esper, and CIA Director Gina Haspel. It is noteworthy that inside Iraq if more investigation is conducted, more can be charged with complicity but definitely different layers of people, from service to security personnel, can be found guilty of helping the largely inhumane and illegal crime. These people can be put on the revenge list and they in the coming months and perhaps years may not see the face of security and peace anymore. Furthermore, the Iranian general’s remarks sent a signal to Washington, telling it that Tehran has prepared a list of perpetrators involved in the sabotaging action who would be Iran’s main target rather than a couple of low-ranking soldiers.
In the second message, the remarks bore a real and must-fear threat against the American forces in the region who are labeled by Iran as terrorists and thus can be a legitimate target to Iranian strikes. Iran has so far refrained from targeting the American troops, in adoption of codes of ethics and justice. If it chooses to, it can do easily. The certainty is that all the US forces operating in the region are within the fire range of Iranian missiles and this means that a shadow of threat is always on the occupying American forces in West Asia. Iran asserts that these terrorist forces have no place in the region and they may suffer the consequences of the revenge nightmare sooner than what they imagine.
Trump’s “1000 times greater” retaliation threat if the US attacked: Here is the play filed!
Another message of the comments by General Salami was in fact a response to Trump’s last week threat that the US would launch attacks against Iran 1000 times greater than what it planned to respond when Tehran attacked Ein Al-Assad airbase in the initial response to the assassination. The fascinating point is that a US immersed in crises like racism and home protests is threatening to launch 1000 times greater attacks, while it gave no response when Iranian missiles destroyed parts of its military base in Iraq and killed and wounded hundreds of military personnel.
The remarks by the top Iranian military official make it clear that Iran would never be intimidated by Trump and other American officials’ propagandistic threats and that any attack on Iran in the region would trigger several-fold responses. General Salami wanted to give the idea that Trump’s threats are empty and for home consumption as the country is heading to November 3 presidential election. But, as the general made it clear, Iran does not want verbal and psychological warfare. Rather it wants everything to happen in practice.
The US isolation and Iranian deepening influence in the Mediterranean
Another message the comments by the IRGC commander conveyed is that the US is growing increasingly isolated on the global arena as its push for maximum pressure on Iran and reimposition of sanctions under “snapback mechanism” are badly failing and it is losing its hegemony worldwide as the global countries increasingly flout its restrictions on Tehran. The fact is that the post-WWII US managed to make military success in no part of the world. The defeat in Vietnam and also failure to realize the goals for which it invaded Afghanistan and Iraq in 2001 and 2003 are instances of the incapability of the US war machine despite massive propaganda led by the various White House officials about the achievements of Washington.
The state of the US addressing of racial, economic, and health crises is the worst in the history of the country. Contrary to the US, the Iran-led Axis of Resistance is thriving and its power is in its climactic point. General Salami told of “massive influence” to the depth of the Mediterranean by Iran and its regional allies.
Very importantly, the comments poured cold water on the half-dead Israeli military and diplomatic struggle especially in Syria and Lebanon to block Iran’s reaching of the occupied Palestinian territories. The essential message passed by General Salami was that Iran and its regional allies have just completed the encirclement of the Israeli regime and thus tough days are awaiting Tel Aviv while Netanyahu is having sweet days normalizing ties with Arab rulers.
