Iran Revolutionary Guard Official Urges ‘Non-War’ Methods to Pressure Israel

An Iranian cleric uses a mobile phone while standing beside missiles on display in Tehran on Monday. (AP)
An Iranian cleric uses a mobile phone while standing beside missiles on display in Tehran on Monday. (AP)
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Iran Revolutionary Guard Official Urges ‘Non-War’ Methods to Pressure Israel

An Iranian cleric uses a mobile phone while standing beside missiles on display in Tehran on Monday. (AP)
An Iranian cleric uses a mobile phone while standing beside missiles on display in Tehran on Monday. (AP)

Coordinating Commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Naqdi stated that his forces “eagerly await” orders from Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to join the fight in Gaza.

However, Naqdi called for the pursuit of “non-military” methods to exert pressure on Israel, reported Iranian government media.

Meanwhile, a deputy in the Iranian parliament suggested that the “Axis of Resistance” may target maritime passages, Israeli ships, and its allies if the war expands.

Naqdi, speaking at a conference organized by the IRGC on Gaza, emphasized that “despite not deploying forces to Palestine, it does not imply sitting idly at home.”

“Even before receiving orders to go to Gaza, we will assist the fighters in other ways,” he asserted.

Naqdi advised parties engaged in the war with Israel to execute “fully complementary operations,” remarking that the “Zionists are receiving painful blows from the resistance and digging their own graves in every meter of Gaza’s soil.”

“Palestinian resistance has prepared itself for a long-term war, expecting ground warfare, and it still maintains its readiness,” added Naqdi.

He called for activating legal, judicial, medical, humanitarian, and diplomatic mechanisms to support Gazans.

He revealed that the IRGC had asked Türkiye and some regional countries to close American and Israeli military and intelligence bases.

Moreover, Naqdi praised the role of diplomacy during the Gaza war.

“Our diplomatic measures should continue until Israel is expelled from the Security Council,” he said.

The Iranian judiciary, meanwhile, called for stricter punishment against Israeli and US spies captured in Iran.



At Least 52 Dead after Helene's Deadly March Across Southeastern US

John Taylor puts up an American flag on his destroyed property in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, in Horseshoe Beach, Fla., Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
John Taylor puts up an American flag on his destroyed property in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, in Horseshoe Beach, Fla., Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
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At Least 52 Dead after Helene's Deadly March Across Southeastern US

John Taylor puts up an American flag on his destroyed property in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, in Horseshoe Beach, Fla., Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
John Taylor puts up an American flag on his destroyed property in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, in Horseshoe Beach, Fla., Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Hurricane Helene caused at least 52 deaths and billions of dollars of destruction across a wide swath of the southeastern US as it raced through, and more than 3 million customers went into the weekend without any power and for some a continued threat of floods.

Helene blew ashore in Florida's Big Bend region as a Category 4 hurricane late Thursday packing winds of 140 mph (225 kph) and then quickly moved through Georgia, the Carolinas and Tennessee, uprooting trees, splintering homes and sending creeks and rivers over their banks and straining dams.

Western North Carolina was essentially cut off because of landslides and flooding that forced the closure of Interstate 40 and other roads. Video shows sections of Asheville underwater.
There were hundreds of water rescues, none more dramatic than in rural Unicoi County in East Tennessee, where dozens of patients and staff were plucked by helicopter from the roof of a hospital that was surrounded by water from a flooded river.
The storm, now a post-tropical cyclone, was expected to hover over the Tennessee Valley on Saturday and Sunday, the National Hurricane Center said. Several flood and flash flood warnings remained in effect in parts of the southern and central Appalachians, while high wind warnings also covered parts of Tennessee and Ohio.
At least 48 people have been killed in the storm; among them were three firefighters, a woman and her one-month-old twins, and an 89-year-old woman whose house was struck by a falling tree. According to an Associated Press tally, the deaths occurred in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.

Moody’s Analytics said it expects $15 billion to $26 billion in property damage.