Sunday, September 23, 2012

Possibility of Pre-Emptive Strike against Israel – IRGC Missile Commander

A day after IRGC Commander Maj. Gen. Mohammad Ali “Aziz” Jafari warned that the war with Israel is now inevitable; his general in command of IRGC’s missile force said Iran could launch a pre-emptive strike if Israel prepares to attack Iran.
“In circumstances in which they (the Israelis) have prepared everything for an attack, it is possible that we will make a pre-emptive attack. But we do not see this at the moment,” Brig. Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, IRGC Missile Force commander, told Iran’s state-run Arabic-language TV channel Al-Alam on Sunday.
Gen. Hajizadeh added that should Israel and Iran engage militarily, “nothing is predictable… and it will turn into World War III.” Hajizadeh also said that Iran will deem any Israeli strike to be conducted with US authorization.

“Whether the Zionist regime (Israel) attacks with or without U.S. knowledge, then we will definitely attack U.S. bases in Bahrain, Qatar and Afghanistan," warned Gen. Hajizadeh.
On Saturday, the IRGC commander said war between Iran and Israel “will occur,” although not clear “where and when.” The surprising statement by Gen. Jafari was the first by any senior official in Iran; civilian or military, saying the war with Israel was inevitable. Today’s statement by his missile force commander about the possibility of a pre-emptive strike went even further and probably answered questions about the “where” in Jafari’s statement.
Also on Sunday, IRGC Deputy Commander Brig. Gen. Hossein Salami told Fars News Agency that Iran's “defensive strategy is based on the assumption that we will engage in a war, a massive battle against a global coalition led by the US.” But he added that Iran will not start the war:We will not start a war. But if someone wages war against us, we will launch continuous offensives.”
Sources: Al Alam, Fars News Agency/ translation into English by AFP. 23 September 2012.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

It will be world war 3 not in the sense that Russia or china will help Iran but in the sense that they enter into the war against Iran together with USA and EU

Anonymous said...

@ 10:09

that is the most ridiculous statement ever. LOL!

Mark Pyruz said...

The IRGC-ASF commander's comments were "paraphrased" on or from the Al-Alams web site, according to the Reuters newswire report. This should be checked out in order to qualify the reporting.

The Iranians have been expecting an attack since at least as far back as 2007 when Cheney was advocating a strike and the Iranians responded by activating construction efforts in earnest near Fordo.

mat said...

Both the Zionists of the U.S.'s 'barking' and its life-term master, Israel's 'beating the empty drums of war' against IRAN, have been continuously going on for 33 long wasting years since the victory of the Islamic Revolution with the oust of U.S.'s closest puppet ally, the Shah of Iran back in 1979. Those non-stop boring rhetoric would definitely go on as usual. Next year would be '34', of course.

Nader Uskowi said...

Mark,

Al Alam is an Iranian state-run (official) TV network. They have not taken the general's remarks off their website as of yet. Of course, my Arabic is very rustic and I might have misread the report. But AFP translation sounds correct.

Within 24 hours, three of the most senior IRGC commanders made statements that Iran expects a war with Israel. This was never said publicly in those terms. I don't know how you came with the conclusion that they had expected that since 2007. At least the reports on the open source does not show that the IRGC leadership were saying so in public.

Let's hope these latest statements are just the usual hyperbole, although I doubt it. The last thing this region wants, or can afford, is a military conflict between Iran and Israel.

Nader Uskowi said...

BTW, General Hajizadeh's remark are the first by any military leaders to identify the specific U.S. bases they want to hit in case an Iran-Israel war breaks out. He has mentioned Bahrain, Qatar and Afghanistan. And he has said that they will attack those bases even if the U.S. had or did not have any knowledge of an Israeli attack. Very odd, indeed.

Nader Uskowi said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

----- " It will be world war 3 not in the sense that Russia or china will help Iran but in the sense that they enter into the war against Iran together with USA and EU"---

Russia and China definitely will not fight for Iran but they are not at all likely to fight against Iran.

...and they certainly wouldn't be needed to augment any US military action to destroy Iran'a armed forces and paramilitary.

Anonymous said...

Anon 2:54 PM

Russia and China definitely will not fight for Iran but they are not at all likely to fight against Iran.

Certainly, they won't fight for Iran, but I wouldn't surprised if they provide covert assistance to Iran in the form of financial and arms if the war comes to that.

Unknown said...

This looks like a clumsy attempt to match headline with headline. An Iranian threat of "preemptive attack" to counter the Israeli threat of "preemptive attack".

Like most regime's negotiating logic, it is nonsense.

An Iranian "preemptive attack" against Israel doesn't prevent anything. The Israelis claim that an attack on Iran would serve to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons; What would an Iranian preemptive attack on Israel prevent or preempt?!

Anonymous said...

@ Anon 3:29


supplying Iran with money or secret shipments of weapons would be of no use at all as the Iranian military would be in fragments and reduced to small groups in hiding within three weeks.

the only use such aid would be would be for a guerilla campaign should the Americans be crazy enough to occupy the country.
or, the the Americans decide not to depose the regime after destroying the military the aid could help rebuild their capability should the regime survive the debacle that they'll have brought upon the country.

Anonymous said...

Nader, please help me understand the sequence of the dialog.

I first read this news on PressTV and their translation differs from yours and, frankly, the two is very confusing to me. So here is my best splice of the statement; please help me to understand my limitations.

“We see the United States and the Zionist regime [of Israel] alongside one another and can by no means imagine that the Zionist regime would initiate a war [against Iran] without the US support….[Uskowi] Whether the Zionist regime (Israel) attacks with or without U.S. knowledge, then we will definitely attack U.S. bases in Bahrain, Qatar and Afghanistan. In circumstances in which they (the Israelis) have prepared everything for an attack, it is possible that we will make a pre-emptive attack. But we do not see this at the moment [Uskowi] …In case of the eruption of such a [war] condition, the situation would spin out of control and management; this war is likely to degenerate into the World War III. It means that some countries might enter the war in favor of or against Iran. The [IRI] considers the US bases in the region as part of the American soil and will definitely target them if a war breaks out.” Is this the context?

I think this is the first time I have heard the top brass describe preemptivity in terms of WW3 - am I wrong anyone? The uptick in RASH talk from Iran is a delightful surprise as long as it's not lethal (they must have reached some yet unknown milestone in their militarization). It is noteworthy that they are conveying to Israel that they have access to real time spy satellites monitoring their preparations. This is very good news for it will prevent unforeseen miscalculations on both sides.

This is peace talk and I LOVE IT!

2Cold.

Anonymous said...

Hahaha Soon mullah's will be hanged in Persian Streets hahaha Dr Fazeli you are very right these regime is stupid and nonsense it should be bombed into its apocalypse !

Anonymous said...

For the record, I'll have to assume that a Nader is not going to validate his own translation on this subject.

Here is why I felt the translations from PressTV and Nader were incomplete, and therefore, more skewed towards their subjective whims. The western media translation of the same quote on the conditions for “a preemptive attack” portrays the Iranians as such ~ “if it [Iran] was sure Israel was about to attack” ~ and not as having satellite capabilities as suggested by Nader's translation. And the PressTV's take infers a generalized condition with no mention of preemption. Context is very important because these 'words' could have been uttered by the Commander of the IRGC Aerospace division who will play a major role in any war activities. If we can read his mind, or understand it better, we dumb masses on this blog can illuminate the world.

Having said that, I honestly have no legitimate excuse for relying on one source to make this unfounded analysis: “It is noteworthy that they are conveying to Israel that they have access to real time spy satellites monitoring their preparations.” I simply could not validate the basis of that statement from any other source. The shame is mine and my alone.

2Cold.