American leaders “lack wisdom” and the country itself is “all brawn and no brains,” the Commander-in-Chief of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), General Hossein Salami, said in an address that aired on Iran television Saturday night.
The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) obtained a copy of the speech and provided a translation.
In it, General Salami told viewers “Americans act only with force and according to a philosophy of injustice,” and called out what he said was a lack of spiritual leadership, wisdom, and “charisma-based leadership” that will lead to “the erosion of America’s power, to its gradual decline, and to its eventual extinction.”
General Salami also said Yemenis have been showing mercy to Saudi Arabia by not attacking Saudi cities.
He then pointed to the Red Sea, the Strait of Hormuz, the Persian Gulf, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Yemen, and Bahrain, saying they have become a “scene for the halting and dismantling of the enemy.”
In addition, General Salami said Iran’s enemies have tried to undo Iran’s influence by waging proxy wars, but Iran’s influence instead expanded “to the point that Iran itself cannot undo the influence of the Islamic Revolution.”
General Salami was appointed to Iran’s top military position in April by Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Khamenei.
He has previously threatened to destroy both the United States and Israel, while in February, he revealed how he was “planning to break America, Israel, and their partners and allies,” calling on Iranian forces to “cleanse the planet from the filth of their existence.” He warned then:
Iran has warned the Zionist regime not to play with fire, because they will be destroyed before the U.S. helps them. [A new war] will result in Israel’s defeat within three days, in a way that they will not find enough graves to bury their dead.
The IRGC was formed in 1979 in the wake of the Islamic Revolution, with a stated mission of defending the regime against both domestic and international threats. Over the last year alone, IRGC authorities have arrested over 7,000 individuals over for their involvement in nationwide demonstrations against the regime. Others targeted have included student organizers, journalists, environmentalists, workers, and human rights activists.
Last March, the U.S. designated the IRGC a terrorist organization, arguing it operates as the “Iranian government’s primary means of directing and implementing its global terrorist campaign.”
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