Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Vows US, Israel’s Demise

Commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami speaks at Sunday's rally in Tehran. (AFP)
Commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami speaks at Sunday's rally in Tehran. (AFP)
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Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Vows US, Israel’s Demise

Commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami speaks at Sunday's rally in Tehran. (AFP)
Commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami speaks at Sunday's rally in Tehran. (AFP)

Commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami declared on Sunday that the United States and its ally Israel were on their way to their demise if they did not change their behavior.

He vowed that the “resistance front” and Iran will do everything they can to confront Israel.

He was speaking at a rally of hundreds of Iranians in central Tehran marking the 45th anniversary of the raid on the US embassy in Iran and hostage taking of its diplomats and staff in 1979.

Salami slammed the US for supporting Israel, saying they cannot “survive without the killing of Muslims and carrying out massacres against them.”

He warned Washington and Tel Aviv that the “Islamic resistance will deal the evil front a harsh response,” reported ISNA state news agency.

Despite its talk of democracy, freedom and human rights, the US is the source of unrest, crime and occupations in the world, he went on to say.

The US is not content with its own geographic borders but believes that the entire world is within its influence, and it wants to control the political will of peoples through wars, occupation and assaults, he declared.

Moreover, he blamed the US for the emergence of extremist groups, such as ISIS. “For 45 years, the US has turned the Islamic world into a war zone. It has sought to subjugate the free people in the name of freedom,” he alleged.

“The US brought backwardness and instability to Iraq and quit Afghanistan after 20 years of occupation and a cost of 85 billion dollars,” he added.

Furthermore, Salami dismissed Washington’s ability to confront Iran, saying it has failed in its “soft war against it and its political influence is waning. It is no longer capable of imposing its will or achieving victories the way it used to.”

On Lebanon, he stressed that Hezbollah “was still strong in spite of all Zionist attempts to weaken it.”

“Hezbollah will not make do with not being defeated, but it will seek to bury the Zionist regime and its followers in southern Lebanon and occupied Palestine,” he stated.

“Israel will inevitably meet its end,” he vowed.

Demonstrators at the rally in front of the former US embassy in Tehran carried Iranian, Palestinian and Hezbollah flags. Many carried banners reading “death to America” and “death to Israel” in both Persian and English and some burned Israeli and American flags.



Senior Israeli Army Officer among Suspects in ‘Leaks Scandal’

 A photo published by Israeli Channel 12 of the central suspect in the leaks case.
 A photo published by Israeli Channel 12 of the central suspect in the leaks case.
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Senior Israeli Army Officer among Suspects in ‘Leaks Scandal’

 A photo published by Israeli Channel 12 of the central suspect in the leaks case.
 A photo published by Israeli Channel 12 of the central suspect in the leaks case.

The arrest of a new senior army officer involved in a suspected leak of classified Gaza documents has sparked a wave of political controversy and public outcry in Israeli politics.
In the past few days, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and some individuals close to him tried to downplay the so-called “leaks scandal” and portrayed it as “just an ordinary incitement against the PM.”
But on Monday, an Israeli army officer was arrested by police investigators as part of the probe into leaked classified documents from the Prime Minister’s Office.
Hebrew media reports said the officer was relaxing with his wife and children in a hotel in the southern city of Eilat, when a force of masked policemen raided the place, arrested him, and took him to an investigation room in the Tel Aviv area without providing further information.
Observers suggest this officer is one of the security personnel who leaked and falsified documents from the military to compromise efforts to secure the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas.
The arrest is the fifth so far in the high-profile investigation. The five suspects include a civilian spokesman from Netanyahu's circle and four members of the security establishment.
Hebrew media outlets on Monday uncovered new information about the central suspect in the case, Eli Feldstein, the only person whose name was allowed to be published. Feldstein has previously worked for National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir. He then worked as a spokesman for Netanyahu from soon after the Hamas attack in southern Israel in October 2023.
According to people close to the investigation, one of the tasks assigned to Feldstein in the PM’s office was to “share with various media outlets security information that serves Netanyahu.”
Feldstein is suspected of receiving secret documents from army officers and then sharing them with a false interpretation to both the German Bild newspaper and the UK’s Jewish Chronicle, which are both close to Netanyahu and his wife.
The scandal started when details from a secret document were published by the German Bild newspaper on Sept. 6.
The report cited a document captured in Gaza indicating that Hamas’s main concern in ceasefire negotiations with Israel was to rehabilitate its military capabilities, and not to alleviate the suffering of Gaza’s civilian population. Bild said it had obtained the spring 2024 document exclusively, without offering further details. It said the document was found on a computer in Gaza that belonged to now-slain Hamas leader Sinwar.
Around the same time, Jewish Chronicle published a report saying that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar planned to smuggle hostages through the Philadelphi Corridor to Egypt.
Netanyahu has used those reports to justify his control over the Philadelphi Corridor along Gaza's border with Egypt and to thwart the hostages deal.
In the past days, the scandal has provoked sharp criticism from opposition leaders and the families of hostages.
The independent media said it highlighted “the corruption that knows no bounds” in the Netanyahu government.
Yossi Verter wrote in the Haaretz newspaper that, “Recent scandals among those in Netanyahu's inner circle reveal the nature of his entourage – a crime organization that places him above the country and national security concerns.”
Speaking about the main suspect in the case, Feldstein, Verter wrote, “The new star, burning with motivation to prove himself, quickly adapted to the office's corrupt semi-criminal atmosphere, its moral and ethical decay and its culture of lies, manipulation, and disinformation.”
At the Maariv newspaper, Shimon Hefetz, a colonel in the army reserve and military secretary to three Israeli presidents, spoke on Monday at the 29th anniversary of the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, saying: “(The assassination) will forever be a shocking day for Israeli democracy, as it is happening in the Prime Minister's office today.”