Iran: 'We Are The Absolute Power In The Region'

Iran Threatens “We Are the Absolute Power in the Region”

The commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said this week that Iran has “absolute power” in the region. Major General Hossein Salami's remarks of “absolute power” seem to suggest that the Iranians have either build a nuclear bomb, or else simply want the world to believe they have the bomb. 

Salami, in a quote to Reuters, said that Iran has “sapped the capacity of the United States to wage war against it,” which also sounds a lot like a nuclear threat. The Iranian threat came in response to the buildup of US military forces in the Middle East, but also after US President Donald Trump said he was not seeking regime change in Iran and that a new deal on Iran’s nuclear program was possible.

In response, Salami said, “We have been able to empty the enemy’s (US) capacity for war. You see the decline and crash of the enemies’ speech.”

“Today, Iran is an absolute power of the region and because of this it is not afraid of the enemy’s threats,” the Iranian commander went on to say as tensions continue to build between the US and Iran. 

Trump announced last Friday that the US will send an additional 1,500 troops to the Middle East. “We aren’t looking for regime change. I just want to make that clear. We are looking for no nuclear weapons,” the US president said.

Earlier this month, the US deployed an aircraft carrier and B-52 bombers to within range of Iran after US officials said there were “clear indications” of threats from the Iranian regime on American forces in the region. Trump warned that Iran would “suffer greatly” if it targeted US interests. “We’ll see what happens with Iran. If they do anything, it will be a very bad mistake. If they do anything they will suffer greatly,” he told reporters at the White House.

So far Israel has not entered the fray. Netanyahu, who usually likes to encourage Trump’s strong-hand tactics with the Iranians, and to callout the Shiite regime’s aggression in the region, has remained silent. In the midst of a battle to set up a new government coming down to the wire, it seems the Israeli prime minister is happy to sit this one out and let the US president fight this battle alone.