Quds Force Chief: Iran Thwarted U.S. Plans in Region
TEHRAN -- The commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said here Wednesday Iran has managed to thwart the United States’ attempts to establish a foothold in West Asia and bring nations under its control.
“Although former U.S. president [Donald Trump] openly admitted to Washington having spent 7 trillion dollars and lost at least 7,000 forces in Afghanistan, what brought such an ambitious project to an abject failure was Iran’s Islamic establishment and the Islamic Revolution’s culture,” Brigadier General Esmail Qa’ani said in an address to the Assembly of Experts.
He noted that Iran, irrespective of the vicious plots hatched by the enemies, above all the U.S. and the Zionist regime, continues to tread the path of progress, has become a source of influence in the region and the world, and has notched notable achievements under the Islamic establishment.
The IRGC commander said American statesmen changed their strategies in West Asia in cooperation with a number of regional countries and created the Daesh terrorist group.
“The deviant Daesh outfit, which was a fake copy of the resistance front, had the capacity to transform the status quo of the region in favor of Americans. It was, however, because of the endeavors and sacrifices made by Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani that the fiendish conspiracy fell short,” Qa’ani said.
The chief commander of the IRGC Quds Force also described the assassination of General Soleimani as the beginning of a new stage of hostile U.S. activities against the Islamic Revolution, which includes an extensive economic and media hybrid war that is still going on.
The culture of resistance, which has its roots in the original concepts and teachings of Islam, has now become a global phenomenon and has frustrated hegemonic powers, Qa’ani said.
The United States assassinated General Soleimani, then-commander of the IRGC Quds Force, and Abu Mahdi Al Muhandis, deputy commander of Iraq’s popular mobilization units, in a drone strike near Baghdad International Airport on January 3, 2020.
Both commanders were admired by Muslim nations for eliminating the U.S.-sponsored the Daesh terrorist group in the region, particularly in Iraq and Syria.
The U.S. assassination drew a wave of condemnation from officials and movements throughout the world and triggered huge public protests across the region, with Iraqi lawmakers approving a bill two days after the attack demanding the withdrawal of all foreign military forces led by the United States from the country.
Five days later, in a military operation codenamed Operation Martyr Soleimani, the IRGC launched a volley of ballistic missiles at the Ain al-Asad airbase in Iraq’s western province of Anbar and at another airbase in Erbil in the Kurdistan Region.
Iran said the missile strike was only a “first slap” in its process of taking “hard revenge” and that it would not rest until the U.S. military leaves the Middle East in disgrace.