Senior IRGC Commander:

Iran Engaging Terrorists Daily on Its Borders

Date: 18 February 2017 - 21:40

News ID: ۳۶۹۴۸

TEHRAN (Dispatches) – A senior commander said on Saturday Iranian security forces either kill or arrest any terrorists seeking to approach Iranian borders.
Brigadier General Muhammad Pakpour, the commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC)’s ground forces, made the remark in a press conference here.
"For sure, Daesh likes to make our country insecure, too, but they do not advance beyond the limits that we have designated, and if they do, they will be annihilated, just as they came and were annihilated last year and this year and some of them were even arrested,” he said.
The IRGC commander also said that Iranian security forces are daily engaging counter-revolutionary elements in the country’s southeastern borders but the elements find no path to enter because of the fortification of the borders and the presence of Iranian forces.
"To the northwest of the country (Iran) and beyond the borders, many consulates have been set up to revive dead outfits and provoke them against us,” he said.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Pakpour stressed that 70% of the security in Iran’s southeast is provided by locals.
Touching on Iran’s military advisory support for some regional countries in their campaign against terrorism, he said that the Islamic Republic has ties with different states and that some of them have requested such assistance.
The IRGC is also to conduct military drills next week, Pakpour said, despite warnings from the United States and fresh sanctions over a ballistic missile test.
"The maneuvers called ‘Grand Prophet 11’ will start Monday and last three days,” he said, adding rockets would be used without specifying which kind.
In early February, Iran conducted drills involving short-range missiles. The Islamic republic said the exercises were aimed at demonstrating Iran’s "complete preparedness to deal with the threats” and "humiliating sanctions” from Washington.
U.S. President Donald Trump slapped fresh sanctions against Tehran following a ballistic missile test on January 29. "Iran would do well to look at the calendar and realize there’s a new president in the Oval Office. And Iran would do well not to test the resolve of this new president,” Vice President Mike Pence said earlier this month.
Iranian officials have rejected the threats emphasizing that the missile program is purely defensive.