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News ID: 45971
Publish Date : 31 October 2017 - 22:14
IRGC Chief Gen. Jafari:

U.S. Knows Not to Start a War Against Iran




TEHRAN (Dispatches) – Chief commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Major General Muhammad Ali Jafari said here Tuesday he didn’t believe there would be any war between Iran and the U.S.
"They know that if they begin a war between Iran and the United States, they will definitely be the main losers and their victory will by no means be guaranteed,” he said. "Therefore, they won’t start a war.”
Speaking on the sidelines of a conference titled "A World Without Terror,” Jafari said U.S. forces are within the reach of Iran’s missiles and a target of the country’s retaliatory measures if it comes under attack.
"The range of our missiles is 2,000 kilometers, which can be increased, but we think this capability and range is enough for the Islamic Republic, because most of the American interests and forces are within the radius of this missile range,” he said.
Jafari said Iran’s missile and defense capability today is "as much invaluable to the Iranian people as their honor.”
"Iranians are zealous people who would exact revenge in the worst possible way on the aggressors if they made their blood boil.”   
The commander said, "The Iranian people know America very well, and if they had gained relative trust in the U.S. over the past four years under the pretext of the JCPOA, they have totally lost it as a result of the Americans’ breaches of trust and deceptions.”
The U.S., he said, seeks to undermine Iran’s economy through imposing sanctions on his force.
Jafari pointed to the so-called Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) and said, "The Americans are trying to implement the plan against the IRGC under the pretext of Iran’s missile power.”
However, this plan is targeting the Iranian economy in nature and the IRGC and the missile capabilities of the Islamic Republic are only pretexts for the U.S. sanctions, he added.
He told U.S. officials that "the more they intensify economic pressure and sanctions, the more the determination of the Iranian nation to boost defense capabilities will increase and the larger the number and the greater the range and accuracy of the missiles will become.”
CAATSA, known as the "mother of all sanctions,” is the most wide-ranging sanctions measure of the last five years which U.S. President Donald Trump signed into law in early August, enhancing three separate sanctions programs targeting Iran, Russia and North Korea.
The law expands U.S. sanctions targeting Iran's ballistic missile program and enhances the "legal basis” for existing sanctions targeting the IRGC.  
The U.S. has imposed the fresh sanctions against Iran in flagrant defiance of the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
On Tuesday, Secretary of Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani said Iran’s determination to boost its defensive capabilities will not be influenced by U.S. sanctions.
"The U.S. Congress wants to extend CAATSA today. Once the U.S. produced the ‘mother of all bombs.’ Since then, Iran has developed and turned into a powerful country,” he told reporters here.
"All these show these mothers have been ineffective and will have no bearing on the Iranian nation’s fundamental moves to defend their national and territorial identity,” said Shamkhani.
The official also said Iran’s defense issues, including the missile program, are non-negotiable.
Shamkhani went on to say that Iran’s defense power is based on its domestic potentialities. He also underlined that Tehran will not negotiate on any of the provisions of the Iran nuclear deal.