The head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the quasi-military mafia that runs Iran, claimed that the US is seeking to leave the Middle East and that Israel is in danger of collapse.
It was not clear if IRGC Chief Commander Hossein Salami’s message was timed to coincide with the news of Israel’s apparent elections that will stir up the Israeli public in several months, but his speech repeated the usual Iranian mantra.
Iran is often frustrated that it has little to show for its claims of “resistance” to Israel that it messages throughout the region, so it suffices to remain on message. The more Israel, the West and the US succeed, the more Iran claims they are fried and leaving the region.
Tasnim and Fars News, Iran’s pro-IRGC, pro-government media, reported the comments at the top of their websites as a choice medium on Tuesday.
“Our enemies are worn and defeated.”
IRGC Chief Commander Hossein Salami
“Our enemies are worn and defeated,” Salami claimed. He also said that Iran doesn’t let anyone infiltrate the state. This is in contrast to foreign media reports that claim Iran is continually being infiltrated and its IRGC officials are being assassinated. Salami claimed that Tehran would take revenge, flipping the narrative. Iran has said this before. Israel has also warned about Iranian threats in Turkey.
Looking toward the nomadic people
The IRGC head claimed that he was strengthening the Guard Corps and that he is not afraid of the “powerful formation of the enemy’s front.”
He made his comments while in Shahrekord in central Iran, west of Isfahan, and praised the role of diverse peoples in the country, including nomadic people.
Despite the fact that Iran is run by a vicious regime and the IRGC is a bloodthirsty organization, overall, the regime spends more time praising the diversity of its society than other authoritarian regimes in the region, such as Turkey, where the ruling party is known for ethnic cleansing of minorities in Syria.
What is the goal?
Iran’s goal generally is to use minorities and get them to toe the party line, but unlike the genocidal regime of Saddam in Iraq or the Assad regime in Syria, the Iranian regime at least pays lip service to the fact that Iran is a diverse country.
“I believe that every community, every ethnic group and every nation is a reflection of the nature in which they live,” Salami said this week. “The nomads are proud, and it is glorious that they learned these qualities from the mountains and the rocks.”
He then gave a well-done to nomadic peoples for their role in being the “reserves of the Revolution.” He praised their role in the history of Islam and then noted that only through the zeal of groups, like nomadic people, could Iran achieve its greatness. “The enemies wanted to plunder the material and spiritual wealth of our country and other Muslims,” he claimed.
The bluster coming out of the IRGC contrasts with its setbacks. Nevertheless it is clear that the Guard Corps wants to press its “resistance” in Iraq and Syria, continuing to operationalize proxy groups and forces, as well as to empower Hezbollah, the Houthis and Hamas.
Overall, the fact that the IRGC leader spent the week praising minorities and nomads in Iran may reflect the fact that he feels secure and does not consider that his forces face an emergency, despite reports that some of its officers have died in rare, mysterious circumstances in recent months.