TEHRAN -- Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Major General Muhammad Baqeri on Tuesday lambasted the Western countries and the occupying regime of Israel for running a “circus” in Western Asia that features instigating wars and fueling tensions under the pretext of peace-building.
He made the remarks in a message issued on the occasion of the International Day of Peace and the beginning of the Sacred Defense Week in Iran, which marks former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s war on the Islamic Republic between 1980 and 1988.
“While peace refers to the absence of war and violence and respect for the rights of nations within the framework of the UN Charter, the United States, the Zionist regime and their regional and global allies, in their utterly deceptive discourses and deeds, depict themselves as ardent advocates of love for mankind as if they were the true heralds of peace! However, by dictating a specific definition of peace to the world, they have been the cause of wars, challenges and military tensions and imposed insecurity, displacement, misery and homelessness on West Asian nations, especially in recent decades,” Baqeri said.
“The Western-Zionist circus and the criminal acts of the United States around the globe show the depth of the catastrophic threat to peace. The world powers’ military spending and financing does not bear any sign of desire for peace in the world,” he added.
He also referred to the war on Yemen, where most weapons used by “the criminal Saudi-led coalition are provided by the leaders of the countries that claim to be advocating peace and human rights, chiefly the United States”.
Addressing free-thinking American soldiers, he urged them to refer to their conscience about their contribution to the U.S. Army’s dark record of oppression, crime, war, violence, insecurity, and homelessness of hundreds of thousands of people across the world.
“Do not let the unwise rulers of the U.S. government and the terrorist and blood-sucking criminals sitting in the command rooms of the U.S. military draw a wedge between you and international realities and turn you into enchanted pawns of their monopolist and war-mongering policies!” he said.
“They are trying to scare you away from any thinking and reflection on some of the obvious and undeniable bitter issues and realities of the world that are the product of the Zionist lobby’s design and planning.”
The top general further emphasized that sustainable peace is achievable as long as it is pursued in the light of justice and outside the realm of the American discourse.
“From the Islamic Republic’s standpoint, just peace whose gift is true peace and friendship is the very discourse heralded by the Islamic Iran which considers peace as the missing piece in today’s world. In the meantime, what is a source of hope is the exposure of the objectives and avarices of the neo-colonial currents in America and the West to the world nations which are rediscovering their pure and divine nature,” he said.
Also in his message, Baqeri hailed Iran’s Sacred Defense during the Iraqi-imposed war, backed by the global arrogance, as the source of many undeniable and dazzling victories and progress of the country.
“The nation’s eight-year Sacred Defense, along with its capacity of resistance, patience and resilience against the conspiracies and machinations of the enemies, is among the components of national power and the pillars of the Islamic Iran’s deterrence. As a symbol of victory and national authority, the Sacred Defense has turned into an indisputable reality, boosting the strategic depth of the Revolution and the geopolitical formation of resistance in Western Asia. Today, as a result, no outsider or their sycophants entertain the idea of encroaching on the identity of the Iranians and their territorial boundaries,” he said.
The defense doctrine of the Islamic Republic, he explained, is supporting the disadvantaged and the oppressed in the world and confronting the oppressors and aggressors, based on the divine mission of Prophet Muhammad (Peace upon Him) and the teachings of the Holy Qur’an.
Baqeri further stressed the utmost readiness of Iran’s powerful Armed Forces to resolutely confront any threat against the country’s independence, territorial integrity and security and the achievements of the Revolution and the Islamic establishment.