Al-anwar Newspaper English news in Australia
A prominent Iranian official is warning the West that his nation has nine million troops who could be deployed to battle lines within 10 days.
The provocative statement comes from Mohsen Rafighdoost, a minister for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps during the 1980-1988 war with Iraq.
He now heads the Noor Foundation and recently delivered a speech to a political circle in Tehran.
His comments, made only a few days ago, were captured by officials with the Middle East Media Research Institute.
Rafighdoost said, “The factor that led to our victory in the [Iran-Iraq] War is [the same] factor that led to our victory in the [Islamic] Revolution. The imam [Khomeini], in France, would order a parade [to be held in Iran], and the people would hold a parade, even in remote villages.”
“During the eight years of the imposed war, not only was not one inch of Iranian land surrendered to the enemy, but we also acquired deterrent capability. I believe that as long as the Islamic Revolution stands against the Western and Eastern camps, we will be under military sanctions. We must never think that the world will provide us with military aid. Thanks to the war and its martyrs, Iran currently has deterrent capability. After a while, the imam [Khomeini] replaced the call of ‘war, war to victory’ with ‘war, war until the fitna is removed.’ At the time, we understood this call as meaning that ‘we must be so strong that the enemy will not even think of a military strike against Iran,’” he said.
He continued, “Today, Iran has deterrent capability. In recent years, the enemies have spoken of the option [of a military strike against Iran] as being on the table, but that was a lie. [Our] air force and navy are good, but it is [our] ground forces that finish the war. The IRGC’s ground forces are perhaps five times better than the American army.
“Despite all the enemy media and cultural propaganda against us, if America wants to try its luck against us, [it should know that] we are completely capable of mobilizing nine million fighters %
