The Islamic Republic’s senior political and military figures set up the unofficial war propaganda headquarters yesterday. State-run websites and news agencies were filled yesterday of statements by senior political and military figures in which they spoke about “war.”
First Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reported “the enemy’s top secret plan for military agitations in the region.” Then, in separate statements, the head of the Islamic Passdaran Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and the Basij organization described the readiness of their troops to confront a potential enemy attack as “exceptional,” and the Islamic Republic supreme leader’s advisor noted a possible attack on Iran by America or Israel. Finally, the head of the Hezbollah organization in Lebanon made a statement that was widely covered by the state-run media: “Any action by the Zionist regime against Iran will certainly be followed by the Lebanese Hezbollah’s swift reaction.”
But perhaps the most interesting part of yesterday’s statements was the contradiction between statements of the current and previous IRGC chiefs. Although the current IRGC chief general Jafari claimed that America will not dare attack Iran, former IRGC chief general Rahim Safavi even predicted the type of America’s war against Iran, noting that it will be “air-based and water-based.”
All of these statements were covered by websites and news agencies such as Fars, rajanews and javan. These websites are directly or indirectly controlled by the IRGC, the security establishment or the Ahmadinejad administration’s special media committee.
Islamic Republic officials made their public remarks about the war while 40 members of the U.S. Congress signed the draft of a bill supporting an Israeli attack against Iran if the Islamic Republic’s stance on the nuclear program remains unchanged.
In these circumstances, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claimed that an “American plot to wage a complex war against Iran” and accused the Russian president of taking part in the plot.
He said, “With his statement, the Russian president effectively aired the trailer of a new propaganda play devised by America against Iran. The play is written and directed by America, but unfortunately some people, either because they are not informed or rely on incorrect analyses, are taking part in this play against their own benefits. The question is, why should the Russian president take part in the America play?”
Ahmadinejad then claimed, as he usually does, that he is in possession of documents proving the plot, adding, “This is a scenario that the Russian president introduced in his meeting with that country’s ambassadors by saying that Iran will acquire a nuclear bomb within the next two years.”
Meanwhile, noting that “the IRGC is extremely well prepared,” the IRGC chief Mohammad Ali Jafari said, “America will not dare to attack Iran.”
