Iran: Israel incapable of launching wide-scale war
Ahmadinejad's senior military advisor states Islamic republic's armed forces 'fully prepared' for any attack on nuclear facilities
General Yahya Rahim Safavi's remarks were made in response to threats made by Israel and the possibility that the Jewish state would attack Iran's nuclear facilities.
He conveyed another message to the Americans regarding Tehran's plans to defend itself, saying that "the responsibility for defending the Persian Gulf has been turned over to the Revolutionary Guards' navy."
This move indicates that the Iranians are radicalizing their stance in the Persian Gulf, considered a first-class strategic region.
The Revolutionary Guards is a military organization founded following the 1979 Muslim revolution in Iran and it is loyal to the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The organization is comprised of some 200,000 soldiers in the navy, air and ground forces, and its main duty is to defend the Islamic regime and infiltrate the revolution values. It operates alongside the regular army.
'Americans have changed Gulf procedures'
The organization has a lot of influence beyond the military arena as well, including in the political and economic fields. Many of Iran's leaders have served as officers in the Revolutionary Guards, including President Ahmadinejad and former nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani, who even headed the organization in the 1980s.
A number of incidents recently occurred in Persian Gulf waters between US navy ships and the Guards' naval forces.
Addressing the possibility that the US will attack Iran, Safavi said that "there are 200,000 American soldiers stationed in the region, and in such a case they will be in serious danger. The Americans will not enter a conflict on a fourth front, in addition to the conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan and Georgia.
"The America's have instructed their forces that in light of the transfer of responsibility for the Persian Gulf's defense to the Revolutionary Guards, they must not approach the Iranian vessels under any circumstances."
The Iranian general noted that "the Revolutionary Guards' missiles are capable of covering the entire Persian Gulf and there is no vessel that can evade their shooting range.
"Our armed forces are capable of controlling the Strait of Hormuz with their defensive equipment, which includes missiles, an air force, a navy and submarine missiles."
