TEHRAN -- Head of the Aerospace Division of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) on Saturday warned the enemies against any acts of aggression, saying they will face a “harsh response” if they retest Iran’s power.
Brigadier General Amir-Ali Hajizadeh made the remarks after the occupying regime of Israel and Western countries accused Tehran of a suspected attack on an Israeli-managed tanker off the coast of Oman and threatened a response.
“The Islamic Republic has passed the test and does not need to be re-tested, but if they like, they can retest Iran,” he said.
“They have tested us and they know what response they will face. We have both the power and the will to exercise power. We will certainly deliver a harsh response and they cannot make such a mistake.”
According to reports, the Liberian-flagged Mercer Street, operated by Zodiac Maritime Company, was hit near the Omani island of Masirah late on July 29. Two crew members were killed in the incident.
The Zionist regime and its Western allies alleged that Iran had been behind the attack without presenting any shred of evidence to substantiate their claims.
Tehran has denied any involvement in the incident and categorically dismissed the baseless accusations.
Brigadier General Abolfazl Shekarchi, spokesman of the Iranian Armed Forces, said Saturday that unlike Iran, whose strategy is to strengthen security in the Persian Gulf, the United States, Britain and Israel are trying to create insecurity while the Saudi media are intensifying Iranophobia.
“If we want to confront the enemies, we will not let the battlefield be around us. The enemies started the media war at the time of the inauguration of the president of our country, and today they are seeking to forge documents for their actions,” he said.
The commander said the United States has never pursued interaction, but sought to overthrow the Islamic Republic.
“If we opt to confront the enemies, we will announce it openly, like what we did in Ain al-Asad base. Therefore, the enemies’ recent forging of stories against Iran is in line with a psychological operation, and this is due to their fear of the unity of the Islamic establishment.”
On January 8, 2020, the IRGC pummeled the U.S.-run Ain al-Asad in Iraq’s western province of Anbar with a volley of precision missiles in response to the dastardly U.S. assassination of top anti-terror commander General Qassem Soleimani.
Iran’s ambassador to France rejected “delusional” accusations leveled at Tehran regarding the Israeli-managed oil tanker, saying the Islamic Republic will make Tel Aviv and its Western allies regret for igniting the flames of war in the region.
In a highly provocative statement, Zionist war minister Benny Gantz said the regime was prepared to “take military action against Iran.”
Bahram Qassemi, a former foreign ministry spokesman, emphasized that Iran - as the country that has the most coastline with the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman and enjoys several thousand years of civilization - has always made great efforts throughout its history to strengthen regional peace and stability and protect security of the Persian Gulf and freedom of navigation.
“Peace, stability, freedom of navigation, and the safeguarding of strategic waterways in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman, and even in other parts of the world, are an undeniable principle and necessity for Iran,” he added.
The Iranian envoy also warned that Tel Aviv and its partners are trying to disrupt Washington’s new policy on a political settlement of Iran’s nuclear issue.
“Enraged by possible continuation and progress of the diplomatic process and negotiations as well as new approaches in the US government on the resolution of issues ahead through political channels, the occupying extremists and their allies are doing their best to damage this process, and in their evil path, they are using every trick to create an unconstructive and destructive atmosphere for warmongering,” he said.
“Relying on false and baseless accusations and fabricated scenarios by third parties is like planting mines in the path of rationality and disrupting diplomatic trends.... Their recent adventures in the Mercer Street incident will be neither their first conspiracy nor their last anti-Iranian measure. Iran will pass through such warmongering multi-purpose traps more vigilantly than ever.”
Qassemi further stressed that Iran strongly condemns any destabilizing act or conspiracy that targets the freedom of navigation and transportation in the sensitive region.
“Through special strategic wisdom and vigilance, Iran will continue to disgrace the occupiers, who are trying to ignite the flames of war, and make them regret especially at the current very critical juncture.”
Iran’s embassy in the United Kingdom also reacted to baseless allegations made by the British envoy at the United Nations over the country’s involvement in the recent incident.
Barbara Woodward, UK’s permanent representative to the UN, reiterated the Group of Seven foreign ministers’ claim on Friday that Tehran was involved in the last week’s attack on the Israeli-managed tanker -- Mercer Street -- off the Omani coast, where two crew members were killed.
Labeling the attack as “deliberate and targeted,” Woodward claimed that Iran was “responsible” but said, “The door for diplomacy and dialogue remains open.”
Woodward also linked the global economy, goods and food to the security of commercial shipping, saying, “That is why we have international law that protects the freedom of shipping.”
The UK’s permanent representative to the UN accused Iran of “not respecting those laws,” and claimed that Iran’s activities “threaten international peace and security.”
Reacting to Woodward’s claims, Iran’s embassy blasted the international community’s inaction towards unlawful sanctions jeopardizing food, goods and commercial shipping of Iran and said, “International law shall apply on all and work for all.”
“Food, goods and commercial shipping of Iran is also being jeopardized for years either by unlawful sanctions or attacks on its vessels. But no reaction. International law shall apply on all and work for all,” it said in a tweet. “Grave allegations need hard evidence.”
Reacting to the G7 allegations on Friday, Zahra Ershadi, Iran’s deputy permanent representative to the UN, said the Zionist regime is “playing victim” to divert attention from its continuing crimes in Palestine, warning the occupying regime against any acts of “adventurism and miscalculations.”
On Friday, U.S. Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East and Afghanistan, said it had recovered the drone fragments and claimed that “the debris and the sophistication of the attack point to Iran’s culpability.”
In the past, U.S. officials have produced similar fragments as evidence of Iran’s role in attacks in the region, but independent observers have dismissed them as a mere propaganda ruse devoid of substance.