The editor of a hard-line daily newspaper operating under the aegis of the Islamic Republic’s supreme leader says Iran’s precision missiles could target any point in Europe.
Hossein Shariatmadari, whose Kayhan newspaper is believed to reflect the views of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, was speaking at an event in Hamadan, northwest Iran, on Thursday to mark the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution. reformist Etemad Online also quoted Shariatmadari with these words that anti-Americanism is in the nature of the Islamic regime in Tehran.
The hard-line editor said Iran was once weak but is now powerful and all of Europe is within range of its precision-guided missiles.
He added that there is an eternal struggle between the Islamic Republic, which represents “true Islam,” and the “arrogance” of the United States, which can only end if the Iranian government end Islam or the United States its “arrogance.” ” give up.
As the Islamic regime celebrated the anniversary of its revolution in recent days, other Iranian officials also made controversial remarks.
IRGC Commander Hossein Salami, known for his outlandish remarks, said on Friday“No world power is able to oppose the Iranian nation.
Earlier this week, when former nuclear chief Fereidoun Abbasi formally called on the United States to do so recognize Iran as a world powerSocial media users taunted him, calling his remarks “delusional boasting” and commenting: “How can a country that has a military budget less than 0.5% of the rest of the world and has no air force, a naval force that fit for the oceans and can’t it be that financial transactions with the world is a world power?”
In a further development on Friday, IRGC General Ahmad Zolghadr, who is responsible for maintaining security in the capital Tehran said he knew Americans believe that Shias have a gene in their bodies that increases their zeal and that the United States wants to inject that gene into their soldiers’ bodies.
Boasting Iran’s military might, Shariatmadari said that Iran had defeated the Islamic State group in Syria, repeating, “If we hadn’t fought ISIS in Syria, we would have wiped their shoes in Iran today.” Iran has during of his decades-long military engagement in Syria, protected Bashar Assad by fighting against the Syrian opposition.
Meanwhile, the hotheaded editor appointed by Ali Khamenei claimed that there were some 50,000 US military advisers in Iran before the 1979 revolution. This is happening while, according to news reports from 1979, there were around 40,000 Americans living in Iran at the time, mostly working for international companies, including their family members.
Speaking about negotiations with world powers in Vienna to revive the 2015 nuclear deal, Shariatmadari, a well-known opponent of the JCPOA and relations with the West, said the talks are intended to lift the 1,500 sanctions imposed by the United States on Iran, but none these sanctions have so far been lifted.
While Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and dozens of Iranian lawmakers have called for direct talks with the United States over the past two weeks, Kayhan and his editor have rejected negotiations with the United States and called on Foreign Minister and Iranian security chief Ali on Shamkhani to lend their support to repent for direct negotiations with the US. Shamkhani wrote an apologetic statement and denied his support for direct talks, but the foreign minister ignored Shariatmadari and his newspaper.
