TEHRAN -- Iran’s new defense minister took office on Monday pledging no pause “even for an hour” in arms production, as the Islamic Revolution Guards said the country has routed a superpower and the foreign minister warned Washington and Israel that Tehran has “unfinished jobs too.”
Mehrdad Akhlaghi-Ketabchi, confirmed as defense minister last week, told his first working session on Monday that current conditions permit “no pause in duties and the pursuit of missions, not even for an hour”.
He said he has already met the commander of the IRGC Aerospace Force to reconcile declared operational needs with ministry programs, and that similar sessions would follow with the IRGC Navy, the regular army and air-defense units.
Akhlaghi-Ketabchi, a defense-industry veteran who succeeded the martyred General Aziz Nasirzadeh,said, “The defense ministry is a single integrated body and must pursue its missions with organizational unity.” 
Major General Ali Abdollahi, chief of the armed forces general staff, told the same ceremony that Iran “has never started a war” but has always defended itself, and that recent experience demands a rethink of readiness. 
“Future wars will not be confined to one domain; hybrid, technological, intelligence and cognitive 
He singled out Bahrain’s ambassador, whose country hosts the U.S. Fifth Fleet, for describing Iran’s actions as an “unprovoked attack” on Bahrain—a characterization Sachs called “a little weird” given the circumstances. 
“The French ambassador, the British ambassador, the Greek ambassador... It was all Iran. Iran, a criminal state,” Sachs said. “Nobody in Europe said the United States should not have started a war against Iran.” 
He described the attack itself as “a brazen, murderous violation of every single international standard we have,” and noted that only Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez among European leaders had publicly opposed the war. 
“So honestly, I love Europe, but not this political leadership right now. I don’t understand it. Europe had a voice even with the U.S. dependency.”