By Stephen Lendman
Picture provided by Tasnim News Agency on July 29, 2020 shows ongoing naval and aerial drills by Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps in the county’s general southern expanse and the Persian Gulf.
Iran is the leading Middle East proponent of peace, stability, and cooperative relations with other countries.
It hasn’t attacked another nation in centuries, threatening none now except in retaliation against aggression by a foreign power if occurs — the right of all countries.
Self-defense is a universal right, affirmed by the UN Charter’s Article 51, stating:
“Nothing in the present Charter shall impair the inherent right of individual or collective self-defense if an armed attack occurs against a Member of the United Nations, until the Security Council has taken measures necessary to maintain international peace and security.”
Since establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979 ended a generation of US installed fascist tyranny, Republicans and Dems have been at war on Iran by other means.
Their aim is all about seeking to regain control over the country, its vast hydrocarbon resources and population, along with wanting Israel’s main regional rival neutralized.
Iran’s ruling authorities understand the threat posed by US/Israeli hegemonic aims.
New millennium forever wars against invented enemies are their favored strategies, a new era of world peace and stability considered a threat to their national security, as well as to key NATO allies partnering in endless wars on humanity.
Commenting while large-scale military exercises are ongoing, Iran’s IRGC commander General Hossein Salami said Tehran’s defensive strategy aims to develop advanced weapons as a deterrent against possible aggression, adding:
“Development of our equipment and arms are proportional to the threats and a real understanding of the enemy’s weak and strong points.”
Ongoing drills in the Persian Gulf are designed to mirror real war conditions to prepare and be ready to counter aggression by a foreign adversary if occurs.
Salami stressed that Iran “will never start an attack on any country, but our tactics and operations are totally offensive” to be ready to counter a possible strike on the nation’s territory.
IRGC military exercises include simulated countermeasures against a possible threat posed by a US aircraft carrier in or near the strategically important Strait of Hormuz.
The 90 nautical mile long/21 nautical mile wide waterway is one of the world’s most important chokepoints.
Around two-thirds of world oil pass through waters bordering Iran, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman en route to world markets — millions of barrels daily through the Hormuz Strait.
IRGC naval and air forces participated in offensive and defensive drills against a mock US carrier, including use of long-range anti-ship ballistic missiles.
Unlawful Trump regime “maximum pressure” on Iran includes wanting its legitimate ballistic missiles eliminated to limit its defensive capabilities against the US and Israel if attacked by their forces.
Pompeo and other regime hardliners falsely claim Iran’s ballistic missiles and related technology are prohibited by Security Council 2231 (July 2015) — unanimously adopting the JCPOA nuclear deal, the US abstaining.
Iran’s missile development, testing, and production comply fully with SC Res. 2231. Solely for defense, Iranian missiles are designed to carry conventional warheads exclusively.
No evidence suggests otherwise. No Iranian nuclear weapons program exists, what IAEA inspectors affirm time and again.
False claims to the contrary by Pompeo and other Trump regime hardliners are part of longstanding US aims to replace its sovereign government with US controlled puppet rule.
Last fall, Iranian Admiral Alireza Tangsiri said “(n)ew (IRGC) weapons are assessed, tested and used in the war games, and new arms produced inside the country will be used in future drills,” adding:
“(T)he IRGC Navy is fully prepared and this readiness is increased day by day.”
The final phase of so-called Payambar-e A’zam (The Great Prophet) 14 military drills began Tuesday, IRGC spokesman General Abbas Nilforoushan, saying:
Exercises include “the interception of ballistic and cruise missiles,” along with testing of “long-range ballistic missiles capable of striking intruding vessels floating at a distance” away.
In response to Iran’s simulated attack on a mock up of a US aircraft carrier, a Pentagon Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet statement called the defensive exercise “irresponsible and reckless (sic).”
Ignored was how US military exercises operate in similar fashion to assess the destructive capability of its weapons. Other nations do the same thing.
Days earlier, Trump regime envoy for regime change in Iran Brian Hook pushed for a Security Council resolution to indefinitely extend an international conventional arms embargo on Iran that expires in mid-October, falsely claiming the following:
“Failure to extend this resolution will mean more dangers for all peoples of the region and its countries and for our friends in the (Persian) Gulf and in the world (sic).”
“It would mean more arms exports from Iran to Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon, and more Iranian weapons to Hezbollah, Hamas, and others (sic).”
Left unexplained by Hook was the Trump regime’s unlawful abandonment of the JCPOA in May 2018, abandoning as well any say over its implementation and enforcement.
Russia and China oppose the aim of its hardliners to impose a permanent ban on Iran’s legitimate right to buy conventional weapons from other countries.
Trump, Pompeo, Hook and others want the landmark JCPOA agreement eliminated, Iran isolated and weakened, its people immiserated, its government toppled.
For over 40 years, Iran withstood US war on the country by other means, overcoming everything tried by Washington to transform it into a vassal state.
Hostile Trump regime policies have been no more successful than its predecessors.
While US war on Iran is unlikely because of the IRGC’s military capabilities that could hit back hard against regional Pentagon bases and Israel if attacked, what’s unthinkable is possible because both wings of its war party seek control over all other nations, their resources and people.
That’s the stuff endless wars are made of. Two global conflicts taught belligerent USA nothing.
A third one in the nuclear age would be madness, yet possible because of diabolical US aims to rule the world even at the risk of destroying it.
Stephen Lendman, born in 1934 in Boston, started writing on major world and national issues began in summer 2005. In early 2007, radio hosting followed. Lendman now hosts the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network three times weekly. Distinguished guests are featured. Listen live or archived. Major world and national issues are discussed. Lendman is a 2008 Project Censored winner and 2011 Mexican Journalists Club international journalism award recipient.
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