US strategies against Iran defeated: commander

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Tehran, April 13, IRNA -- US strategies against the Islamic Republic of Iran were defeated, Commander of Iranian Army's Ground Forces Brigadier General Ahmad Reza Pourdastan said on Friday.

He made the remarks in his address to Tehran Friday prayers before the first sermon of Friday prayers.

“US preemptive operation to dominate Middle East and control Asian powers including Iran was failed and defeated.”

“Washington changed its strategy toward Iran to soft war after understanding Iran’s military power; the exit of US forces from Iraq which was one of the results of ongoing regional anti-American Islamic Awakening, entangled Zionist regime and arrogant powers and forced Washington to change strategy again,” he added.

Pourdastan noted that after the fall of the former Soviet Union, the US officials who supposed themselves as leaders of the new world were warned by their research centers to be cautious about the birth of new powers.

“Muslim world as well as Shanghai Cooperation Organization have been called as the new rivals for US leadership in the world; September 11 event as an excuse to occupy Afghanistan and later Iraq and other efforts of Washington is because it wants to dominate the world energy resources in rivalry with emerging powers.”

“Sanctions could not affect Iranian army’s commitment to progress forward; Iranian army modernized its equipment based on latest international standards; Iranian defense power is at the service of regional and international peace, however, it is ready for the worst in any possible confrontation.”

Since the beginning of 2011, the Muslim world has witnessed popular uprisings and revolutions similar to what happened in Iran in 1979. Tunisia saw the overthrow of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in a popular revolution in January, which was soon followed by a revolution which toppled Hosni Mubarak in Egypt in February.

Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Saudi Arabia and Yemen have since been the scene of protests against their totalitarian rulers, who have resorted to brutal crackdown on demonstrations to silence their critics.

Bahrain, however, has experienced the deadliest clashes. Anti-government protesters have been holding peaceful demonstrations across Bahrain since mid-February, calling for an end to the Al Khalifa dynasty's over-40-year rule.

Syria has been experiencing unrest since mid-March with organized attacks by well-armed gangs against Syrian police forces and border guards being reported across the country.

Hundreds of people, including members of the security forces, have been killed, when some protest rallies turned into armed clashes.

The government blames outlaws, saboteurs, and armed terrorist groups for the deaths, stressing that the unrest is being orchestrated from abroad.

In October, calm was eventually restored in the Arab state after President Bashar al-Assad started a reform initiative in the country, but the US and Zionist regime plots could spark some new unrests in certain parts of the country.

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