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IRGC Claims ‘Setting Conditions to Foes’ after Reaching War Threshold

Revolutionary Guard Commander Major General Hossein Salami and Quds Force Commander Ismail Qaani attend a memorial service in Tehran (Tasnim)
Revolutionary Guard Commander Major General Hossein Salami and Quds Force Commander Ismail Qaani attend a memorial service in Tehran (Tasnim)
    London, Tehran - Asharq Al-Awsat
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IRGC Claims ‘Setting Conditions to Foes’ after Reaching War Threshold

Revolutionary Guard Commander Major General Hossein Salami and Quds Force Commander Ismail Qaani attend a memorial service in Tehran (Tasnim)
Revolutionary Guard Commander Major General Hossein Salami and Quds Force Commander Ismail Qaani attend a memorial service in Tehran (Tasnim)

The top commander of Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard Hussein Salami admitted on Sunday that his country has several times gone to the threshold of war, but said that the cleric-led nation has reached a degree of power that today it “sets conditions for enemies.”

Crediting the force of the “Welayah,” in an oblique hint referring to Iranian proxy militias in the region, Salami said now enjoys leverage over foes.

He said that Iran has thrashed its enemies in the economic war waged against it, and that the “maximum pressure campaign - along with its architect - have been defeated.”

Former US president Donald Trump had pulled out from the Iran nuclear deal in May 2018 and slapped aggressive economic sanctions as part of a maximum pressure campaign against the regime in Tehran.

Economic sanctions were intended to force Tehran into accepting a more comprehensive deal that includes modifying its regional behavior and curbing its ballistic missile program.

Speaking to a crowd of paramilitary volunteer militants known as the Basij, Salami said that Iran “has several times gone to the threshold of war” but was saved by the country’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who “alone had forced enemies to retreat.”

In April 2019, Khamenei issued a decree appointing Salami as commander of the Revolutionary Guard, which is considered a parallel force to the Iranian Army.

The move came less than two weeks after Trump signed a decree blacklisting the Revolutionary Guard as an international terrorist organization.

Iran, retaliating against US economic sanctions, announced a plan for its gradual withdrawal from the nuclear deal, which was struck with P5+1 countries and the European Union.

Despite freezing its commitments to the deal, Iran said it would return to abiding by the agreement’s stipulations if other signatories compensate Tehran for losses it incurred due to US economic sanctions.

A consequence of Iran moving away from the deal was tensions rising across the region. Oil tankers sailing the Gulf of Oman and the Strait of Hormuz were getting attacked.

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US, EU Call for Probe after Reports of Georgia Election Violations

Members of an election commission count ballots at a polling station after the parliamentary election in Tbilisi, Georgia, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Kostya Manenkov)
Members of an election commission count ballots at a polling station after the parliamentary election in Tbilisi, Georgia, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Kostya Manenkov)
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US, EU Call for Probe after Reports of Georgia Election Violations

Members of an election commission count ballots at a polling station after the parliamentary election in Tbilisi, Georgia, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Kostya Manenkov)
Members of an election commission count ballots at a polling station after the parliamentary election in Tbilisi, Georgia, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Kostya Manenkov)

Georgia's president called for protests on Monday following a disputed parliamentary election, and the United States and the European Union urged a full investigation into reports of violations in the voting.
The results, with almost all precincts counted, were a blow for pro-Western Georgians who had cast Saturday's election as a choice between a ruling party that has deepened ties with Russia and an opposition aiming to fast-track integration with Europe, said Reuters.
Monitors from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) said on Sunday they had registered incidents of vote-buying, voter intimidation, and ballot-stuffing that could have affected the outcome, but they stopped short of saying the election was rigged.
President Salome Zourabichvili urged people to take to the streets to protest against the results of the ballot, which the electoral commission said the ruling party had won.
In an address on Sunday, she referred to the result as a "Russian special operation". She did not clarify what she meant by the term.
The ruling Georgian Dream party, of which Zourabichvili is a fierce critic, clinched nearly 54% of the vote, the commission said, as opposition parties contested the outcome and vote monitors reported significant violations.
Georgian media cited Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze as saying on Monday that the opposition was attempting to topple the "constitutional order" and that his government remained committed to European integration.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States joined calls from observers for a full probe.
"Going forward, we encourage Georgia's political leaders to respect the rule of law, repeal legislation that undermines fundamental freedoms, and address deficiencies in the electoral process together," Blinken said in a statement.
Earlier, the European Union urged Georgia to swiftly and transparently investigate the alleged irregularities in the vote.
"The EU recalls that any legislation that undermines the fundamental rights and freedoms of Georgian citizens and runs counter to the values and principles upon which the EU is founded, must be repealed," the European Commission said in a joint statement with EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.
President Zourabichvili, a former Georgian Dream ally who won the 2018 presidential vote as an independent, urged Georgians to protest in the center of the capital Tbilisi on Monday evening, to show the world "that we do not recognize these elections".
For years, Georgia was one of the most pro-Western countries to emerge from the Soviet Union, with polls showing many Georgians disliking Russia for its support of two breakaway regions of their country.
Russia defeated Georgia in their brief war over the rebel province of South Ossetia in 2008.
The election result poses a challenge to the EU's ambition to expand by bringing in more former Soviet states.
Moldova earlier this month narrowly approved adding a clause to the constitution defining EU accession as a goal. Moldovan officials said Russia meddled in the election, a claim denied by Moscow.