by WorldTribune Staff, September 19, 2016
Creating fear and intimidating the enemy through military power are the keys to peace in the Middle East, Iran’s supreme leader said on Sept. 18.
“In past years, some officials have said the removal of military threat and war were due to certain measures, but it’s not true,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a speech to commanders of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
“The sole factor of removing military threats has been and will remain military and defense power and the creation of fear in the enemy.”
Khamenei, who continues to refer to the United States as the “Great Satan”, said “the Americans insist we negotiate with them on regional issues, especially on Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen. What is their main goal for requesting these talks? They have no aim but to prevent the presence in the region of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the main factor of America’s failures.”
Top commanders Maj. Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari, the Revolutionary Guards chief, and Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, head of the IRGC’s foreign operations wing, the Quds Force, were among the military leaders who attended the speech, according to AFP.
In the past, Khamenei has ruled out his country having ties with the United States or “the Zionist regime” – that is, Israel – claiming he had proof that the United States was planning a coup in Iran.
Khamenei has also referred to Israel as a “cancerous tumor” and also predicted several months ago that the Jewish state will not exist in 25 years.