Iran’s General Staff of the Armed Forces and the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Command have rejected repeated threats by US President Donald Trump against Iran, describing them as a tool of domestic propaganda and evidence of what Tehran called an American strategic dead end.
In a statement, the two Iranian military bodies said Trump’s hostile remarks and threats, along with what they described as his misuse of the United Nations podium to justify aggression, insecurity and piracy, were not grounded in realities on the ground. “Such words demonstrate America’s strategic dead end in its aggression against the Iranian nation,” the statement said.
The statement added that repeated threats and what it called baseless claims, particularly in the context of what it described as the exhaustion of the US military, should not be interpreted as evidence of American strength. Instead, it said, they reflected “strategic desperation”.
Tehran also rejected Washington’s characterisation of Iran’s role in the region. The Iranian military statement said Iran had consistently acted as an anchor of regional security, particularly in relation to free and international trade. It accused the United States of being a source of threat, insecurity and instability because of its “illegitimate, illegal and aggressive presence” in West Asia.
The Iranian authorities further accused the United States of holding the global economy hostage in an effort to compensate for what the statement described as repeated defeats in aggressive actions against Iran and maritime piracy. They said Trump’s rhetoric could not alter calculations of power or restore what Tehran described as America’s diminished position in a new global order.
The statement also warned that Iran’s armed forces remained prepared to respond to aggression. It said the military had drawn on the experience of the eight-year Sacred Defence and what it described as the second and third imposed wars, and was ready to inflict strikes that would be “more severe, more crushing and less predictable” on aggressors and the leaders of the United States and the Zionist regime.
The Iranian statement was issued as Trump said US officials had held a “very good” meeting with an Iranian delegation while he was conducting talks with leaders of the PGCC in New York.
Earlier, Trump had told the UN General Assembly that Iran faced a choice between reaching a deal with the United States and facing further military action, according to Al Jazeera. Trump also said he believed Washington and Tehran would eventually reach a deal after the US midterm elections.
The Iranian military leadership said Trump’s statements would not compensate for what it described as US defeats in the war against Iran and the Resistance Front. It concluded by saying that, God willing, the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran would convey to the world at the United Nations General Assembly the message of the Iranian people, its armed forces and what it called a “strong and invincible Iran”.
