IRGC Commander Mohsen Rezaei encouraged Islamic countries to form an army to confront “the proxy hegemony of America,” semi-state official Tasnim News reported on Friday.
Rezaei was said to have made the comments while delivering remarks at a commemoration event for Ali Ghayurasli.
“Muslims should know that today Palestine and Lebanon are busy defending all Islamic lands and Muslims, because a big conspiracy for West Asia, full of God-given sources of wealth, is behind the events in the region, and therefore Islamic countries should take more action against these events,” the IRGC official reportedly stated. “Islamic countries must form a large Islamic army and stand in front of these conspiracies that are in line with the proxy hegemony of America, and if each country provides only one brigade to this army, the enemy will retreat as soon as this army is formed.”
Referencing President-elect Donald Trump’s slogan “We will make America great again,” Rezaei claimed, “this shows how humble they have become.”
"Trump has recently talked about peace with a bayonet, and in the order of the proposed defense minister, he said to pursue peace through power, and Netanyahu says that he must kill the last Muslim who resists us, and therefore the world is facing a bloody tyranny against the independence of nations," he reportedly said.
"Today, the world is pregnant with anti-Zionist sentiments, and there is a place for an international anti-Zionist movement to be launched by Iranians inside and outside the country all over the world, and for Iranians to be the pioneers of global and international confrontation against Zionists," he concluded.
A push for diplomatic relief
The IRGC’s official statement came as Iranian officials has sought improved diplomatic relations with the US and EU - seeking relief from sanctions imposed and the return of Tehran’s nuclear freedoms, according to the analysis of the Jerusalem Post’s Seth Frantzman.
Iran is willing to resolve outstanding disputes over its nuclear programme but won't succumb to pressure, its foreign minister told the UN nuclear watchdog head on Thursday, as European countries push for diplomacy before Donald Trump's return to the White House.
"The ball is in the EU/E3 court," Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi wrote on X following talks in Tehran with IAEA chief Rafael Grossi, referring to three European countries - France, Britain and Germany - which represent the West alongside the United States at nuclear talks.
"Willing to negotiate based on our national interest and inalienable rights, but not ready to negotiate under pressure and intimidation," Iranian state media quoted Araqchi as saying. "I hope the other side will adopt a rational policy."
A senior Iranian official told Reuters that Tehran would send a message to the three European powers through the IAEA chief Rafael Grossi about Tehran's seriousness to resolve its nuclear standoff, while stressing that any pressure on Tehran would have the opposite effect.
Diplomats told Reuters on Wednesday that Britain, France and Germany are pushing for a new resolution against Iran by the International Atomic Energy Agency board next week to pressure Tehran over what they view as its poor cooperation.