Iran’s enemies have an “expiration date,” Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps leader Maj.-Gen. Hossein Salami said, according to Iranian news outlet Tasnim.
Speaking to IRGC soldiers on Wednesday in the southwestern city of Dezful, Salami issued a warning to the Jewish state and shared insight on the Iranian approach to negotiations with the US over sanctions.
He said Israel will have to “endure the bitter taste of missiles if it is not careful,” while claiming Washington’s “strategy of strong, aggressive sanctions” has strengthened the IRGC “in every way.”
“The enemies are gradually retreating and their policies are no longer effective,” he said.
It was reported last week that the US is considering removing the IRGC from its foreign terrorist organization blacklist in return for Iranian assurances on de-escalation in the Middle East.
“We have entered a new era.... The sun has set on the evil powers,” he said, referring to the West and in particular Israel and the US. The Islamic revolution has “accelerated the erosion and decay of Western civilizations.
“The previous century was written by the enemies and the Westerners. It was the century of captivity and slavery of Muslims, of modern ignorance, of a bipolar world in which the West is advanced and we are backward and dependent on others.
“We do not only hold funerals for our martyrs but also exact immediate revenge for them,” Salami said, possibly referencing the American assassination of Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani.