TEHRAN – Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan reiterated Iran’s full preparedness to confront any possible enemy threat and aggression, and said that the country’s military forces will give a swift and decisive response to any US or Israeli threat.
“The westerners are angry at us and they use the nuclear issue as a worn-out pretext to leave an impact on our nation,” Dehqan said, addressing a ceremony to unveil a new home-made communication system of the Law Enforcement Police in Tehran on Tuesday, according to FNA.
“Certainly, our nation will not be affected and is fully ready to confront any arrogant move of the US or its little child, Israel,” he underlined.
The Iranian minister advised the Americans to see the Iranian nation’s resolve, understand its greatness and shift their path to move on the right path.
His remarks came after US Secretary of State John Kerry said in an interview in Geneva in January that the military option was still on the table “if Iran did not live up to its nuclear commitments under the Geneva deal”.
After his remarks, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces for Cultural Affairs and Defense Publicity Brigadier General Massoud Jazzayeri downplayed the US and its allies’ war rhetoric against Iran, and said they don’t dare to attack Iran because they have no hope of victory in such a war.
In response to Kerry’s comments, the senior Iranian commander said that the US government knows that the military option against Iran is not practical.
The United States has long stressed that military action is a main option for the White House to deter Iran’s progress in the field of nuclear technology.
Iran has warned that in case of an attack by either the US or Israel, it will target 32 American bases in the Middle-East and close the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
An estimated 40 percent of the world’s oil supply passes through the waterway.
On November 24, Iran and the Group 5+1 sealed a six-month Joint Plan of Action to lay the groundwork for the full resolution of the West’s decade-old dispute with Iran over its nuclear energy program. In exchange for Tehran’s confidence-building bid to limit certain aspects of its nuclear activities, the Group 5+1 (the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany) agreed to lift some of the existing sanctions against Tehran and continue talks with the country to settle all problems between the two sides.
R.S