Iran Press/ Iran News: Speaking on channel 2 of Iranian television on Monday night, the former top commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and senior adviser to the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Major General Rahim Safavi said that the political leadership usually decides to start and to end wars, and war is essentially an attempt by one government to impose its political will on another government.
He added: "At present, our enemy the United States wants to impose its political will upon Iran, chiefly through economic pressure, or more accurately through economic terrorism. America's political will is that other countries should obey the United States and do what it says."
Turning to US President Donald Trump, Major General Rahim Safavi said: "Donald Trump is not stable mentally, and his behaviour is erratic. Trump wants to control our region, and in particular he wants to control the Islamic Republic because we are the most powerful and influential country in this region."
In further remarks, Major General Rahim Safavi said: "At the time of the eight-year-imposed war, the United States, the former Soviet Union, Europe, and many Arab countries supported and backed the Ba'athist regime in Iraq, but of course today the situation has changed, and Russia and Iran have very similar stances and points-of-view on a host of issues, for example on Syria."
He added: "The resistance started during eight years of the imposed war. The proponents of this theory were the Founder of the Islamic Republic Imam Khomeini (may his soul rest in peace), Ayatollah Khamenei and former martyred president, Mohammad Ali Rajaie. Without a doubt, resistance led to victory. We won the imposed war because the Ba'athist Iraqis didn't achieve any of their goals, and in the end, we imposed our will upon them. In fact, the Islamic Resistance Movement went on to create Lebanon's Hezbollah Movement in 1982, and later on the Palestinian Hamas Movement, and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement, and more recently Islamic Resistance has formed in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen. Today we have the united Islamic Revolution and Islamic Resistance Front, on the one hand, and the Arrogant Powers Front, comprising of the Americans, the Zionists and a number of reactionary Arab regimes."
Major General Rahim Safavi added: "The Islamic Resistance Front is popular, supported by ordinary people, and led by wise and courageous leaders, and it is becoming more powerful by the day, going from strength to strength. On the other hand, the Americans, the Zionists and a number of Arab regimes are on the wane, losing their power and clout and moving down the slippery slope to collapse."
In further comments the senior aide to the Leader of the Islamic Revolution said: "China is beating the United States economically. Russia has a powerful military force and is standing up to the United States. The Islamic Revolution has cultural power and powerful civilisation, and we have influence within the Islamic world and beyond. The Islamic Resistance Front, which is going from strength to strength, is confronting the United States. The power of the US is waning. The Americans have been defeated in both Syria and Afghanistan. The Americans failed to establish security in Iraq and Afghanistan. But regional countries through cooperation can and have established security in the region."
Turning to the war in Yemen, Major General Rahim Safavi said: "The Yemeni people have been devastated in the last five years because of the Saudi-UAE imposed war. The infrastructure of Yemen has been bombed and destroyed. The 30 million Yemenis are brave people. Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates must stop this cruel and pointless war. The best thing Saudi Arabia can do is to stop this war and allow the Yemeni people to choose the government that they want. If they continue with this war they will only suffer more losses and more humiliation."
Commenting on the attacks on Aramco oil facilities in Saudi Arabia, Rahim Safavi said: "The Yemenis have the right to legitimate self-defense according to international law. A country which has been invaded and subjected to constant airstrikes has the right to defend itself. The Yemeni army, since the time of [former dictator] Ali Abdullah Saleh, has had surface-to-surface and surface-to-air missiles, and today the Yemenis have long-range ballistic missiles. They also have long-range drones, and as long as Saudi Arabia bombs Yemen, the Yemenis have the right to retaliate and hit targets within Saudi Arabia."
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