Iran aims to form an axis of powerful nations against
the United States.
Officials said Iran has sought to recruit a coalition that would oppose
U.S. interests in the Middle East and Central Asia. They said the alliance
would include nuclear powers.
"China, Russia, India and Iran are capable of establishing a pole of
major powers in Asia, opposing the policies of America," Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Maj. Gen. Yahya Rahim Safavi said.
Addressing the heads of the Basij militia in Teheran on May 9, Safavi
said Iran could forge an international alliance to foil U.S. interests. The
general envisioned a clash of such an axis with the United States and its
allies.
"The current century is going to be the century of the nations
overcoming the dictatorial and dependent governments," Safavi said. "It will
be the era of face to face clash with the global arrogance."
Officials said Iran has also sought to recruit other countries into the
emerging coalition. They cited Venezuela, a leading energy producer whose
president has become a gadfly of Washington.
Safavi said Iran has become a leading player in the international
community. He cited its place in the energy market, strategic programs as
well as alliances with such nuclear powers as China, India and Russia.
"In the last 27 years, the Islamic Republic of Iran has always been at
the center point of the political, economic and even military confrontations
of the West, and at the present, Islamic Iran enjoys the role of a
geo-political
heavyweight in the region," Safavi said.