Revolutionary Guards chief: Iran has ‘built power’ to confront ‘failed’ US
Hossein Salami dismisses America as ‘fleeing and depressed,’ in apparent reference to Afghanistan, calls Israel a ‘small power’
Iran has “built power” to confront the United States, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said on Tuesday, while dismissing Israel’s regional clout.
“We have built power to defeat the US. When we build power for man’s largest military empire, i.e. the US, small powers like the Zionist regime are no longer counted in our equations,” Gen. Hossein Salami was quoted as saying by the Fars news agency.
He claimed that Iran no longer saw the US as a threat after it withdrew forces from the region, in an apparent reference to the recent chaotic pullout of American forces from Afghanistan.
“We witness a failed, fleeing and depressed US,” he said.
Salami also asserted that Iran has managed to weather US sanctions. “Inside our own country, despite all natural or imposed pressures, the Iranian nation has been engaged in resistance,” he said.
The IRGC chief has previously made similar remarks about alleged American decline and issued threats against the US and Israel.
His latest threat comes as Iran announced the planned resumption of talks on restoring the 2015 deal on its nuclear program, which former US president Donald Trump withdrew America from in 2018 while reimposing sanctions on Tehran.
Earlier this year, Salami said that Iran did not need the nuclear deal and should instead focus on resisting sanctions.
