Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), on Wednesday, highlighted Iran’s military capabilities and warned the United States that it would suffer the same deadly fate as Iraq’s former dictator Saddam Hussein if it ever attacks the Islamic Republic.
“The hegemony and arrogance system, particularly heads of the criminal, warmongering, deceitful and reneging US regime have gotten the message that aggression against the Islamic Iran will make them meet a fate not different from that of executed Saddam,” the IRGC said, according to Iran’s state-run Tasnim News agency.
The IRGC reportedly released the statement “on the occasion of the anniversary of liberation of Khorramshahr, a city in southwestern Iran that had been occupied by Iraq’s Baathist army in the early 1980s under former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.”
Although Iran currently has a stronghold in Iraq following former President Barack Obama’s decision to prematurely withdraw U.S. troops from the region and later covertly send in U.S. Special Forces, the neighboring countries have had turbulent relations at times.
Also on Wednesday, Iran’s Supreme Leader, and the appointed head of the Islamic revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, said the United States will fall because Islamic teachings have predicted its demise.
Khamenei said all of America’s “plots” to “overthrow” the Islamic Republic “have failed” before going on to say that instead, “We do not doubt the defeat of the enemy, and anyone who is familiar with Islamic teachings knows this.”
In February, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei stated that, “Without a moment of hesitation, the country must move to acquire whatever is necessary for defense, even if the whole world is opposed to it.”
On Wednesday, in an interview with Al-Jazeera, Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran (SNSC), reiterated that any aggressive action by the United States in the Persian Gulf would result in direct and swift reaction.
“Washington does not dare to attack Iran and the policy of sanctions is a failed policy,” Shamkhani reportedly said. He added, “Our missile program is non-negotiable and we will continue to develop our defense capabilities. We will continue to support Hamas, Islamic Jihad Movement and the Resistance Axis as a whole.”
Adelle Nazarian is a politics and national security reporter for Breitbart News. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter.