BEIRUT – The head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps' elite Quds Force has delivered a bombastic speech in which he claimed that Tehran has “triumphed” over its enemies in the Middle East.
“It is certain that Iran has triumphed in all arenas in the region,” General Qassem Soleimani said during a conference Monday in Qom, one of the preeminent centers for Shiite theological work in the world.
The Iranian military heavyweight claimed that without Tehran’s support “ISIS would have imposed [itself] across all of Syria,” while adding that his country’s efforts have foiled all of Washington’s goals in the war-torn country.
“Iran relied on logic during its confrontation with US and benefited from its enemies’ mistakes,” he added, according to an Arabic-language translation of his speech prepared by Al-Mayadeen television, which has an editorial line closely supportive of Tehran.
“The US worked to ignite wars in the region by supporting terrorists, but victory was on our side,” the Iranian general also said.
Despite his proclamation of victories, Soleimani cautioned that Washington would continue to aim to “destabilize Iranian power.”
“The US seeks to [achieve] a political, security and military presence as it believes that the Islamic Revolution was and still is the cause of the collapse of their abilities in the region.”
“We should be on alert for this,” he warned.
NOW's English news desk editor Albin Szakola (@AlbinSzakola) wrote this report. Amin Nasr translated the Arabic-language source material.
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