Iranian Cleric: "We will be hurt, but Israel will be annihilated"

Roozonline - Predictions of Hardliners If Syria Is Attacked:

After a principlist (i.e., supporters of the original ideals of the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran) cleric and an official administrator of Kish Island warned last week that if the US attacked Syria, Israel would be “eliminated” and that US President Barak Obama’s daughter would be “raped/attacked”, the foreign minister of the Islamic republic of Iran announced that Tehran was taking measures to extinguish the flames of war. At the same time, the head of Iran’s propaganda headquarters in the defense ministry declared that if Syria’s military were attacked the country had the right to attack America and its allies in response. Also, the leader of a para-military group in Iraq which enjoys the support of Iran’s Ghods Revolutionary Guard Force announced that its 23,000 man force was ready to attack Washington’s interests if Syria were attacked.

Even though Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is no longer in the saddle of Iran’s presidency, there are others in the country who would like to continue his fiery rhetoric and language using any domestic or foreign event as their pretext. Jaafar Shabhooni, a member of the Jame Rohaniayt Mobarez (the Association of Combatant Clerics, the most important conservative umbrella organization) is one of them. Speaking to a reporter from Ghanoon (Law) newspaper he has said, “Even though we say that this action (attack by the US) is wrong and are opposed to it, but there is something else brewing in our hearts which is that we don’t mind if the US makes a mistake and then witnesses its consequences.”

The consequence that Shabhooni is talking about is Iran’s attack on Israel. He clarified, “On one hand Russia will hit Saudi Arabia while at the same time Hezbollah and Iran would attack Israel.”

And very much like Ahmadinejad who used to call for the “elimination” of Israel, he added, “We will eliminate Israel from this world and I want to know what the US will do then. So our government is not disinterested in such an event (US attack on Syria). Even though our country will suffer a serious damage but the result will be the elimination of Israel, God willing.”

Similar remarks have been coming from Iran recently. For example, on Saturday, Asre Iran newspaper reported that Alireza Forghani, a government manager in Ahmadinejad’s administration, had written a piece titled: “We hope that America attacks,” which had received wide circulation in foreign media.

Forghani had been appointed the district administrator of Kish Island two years ago when he was 28 years old. In his article he writes, “We pray that Obama makes a mistake and attacks Syria.” One of his reasons for threatening the US is this: “Obama must be reminded that if you are a bastard, other bastards exist in the US and other parts of the world who can rape Sasha (Obama’s daughter). All it requires is to befriend them and establish contacts with them.”

Quoting Daily Color website, Asre Iran continued, “In view of the fact that Forghani is an analyst and strategist member of the Ammar base which is a radical think thank of the Islamic Republic of Iran, his words can reflect a current view among Iranian rulers regarding America.”

These extremist views are aired while just last week veteran politician and head of Iran’s Expediency Council ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani had criticized the political position of some Iranian politicians and unofficial channels which in his words “can bring negative consequences to the country.” He had added that unofficial views and comments by unrelated individuals should avoid making comments and that principled and wise positions be announced through official channels and authorities.”

After a meeting with his Iraqi counterpart in Baghdad, Iran’s foreign minister Javad Zarif also made conciliatory remarks and said, “The Islamic Republic of Iran was pursuing measures to extinguish the voices of war and not inflame them.”

As the president of the US has made his final decision about attacking Iran’s strategic ally, Zarif said, “We know that the American president has been pushed into a trap concocted by others, without his personal desire to do this and we hope that with reason he will not engulf the region and himself in a fire which will be difficult to put off.”

In the meantime, Revolutionary Guards general Masoud Jazaeri who is the head of the propaganda machinery of the ministry of defense announced that if the US attacked Bashar Assad’s regime, he would attack US and its allies’ interests. “Signs indicate that if Syria were attacked, protecting (Iran’s) national security requires that America’s interests and those of its allies would be attacked.”

To further expand on his assertion, general Jazaeri also claimed that “the world community has given Syria the right to defend itself and attack its enemies and invaders with force.” He did not name which countries in the world community had done so or how.

Interestingly, last Wednesday, the commander of the Ghods Force - the external arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards – general Soleimani declared that “We will support Syria till the end.” But without directly referring to the chemical attacks in Syria which have caused a reported 1,400 deaths he further elaborated on Iran’s position by saying, “Some criticize us for defending Syria so much and to them we say that we are moved by the propaganda of the enemies because Syria is the frontline for the resistance, something that is undeniable.”

On the subject of Iran’s response to a US attack on Syria, Iran’s Fars news agency reported that sheikh Vasegh al-Batat, the leader of the Jeish al-Mokhtar group in Iraq had announced that his 23,000 man martyr-ready force was prepared and ready to target US interests in the region and concluded, “Syria would break America’s spine.” Many observers view this group to be Iraq’s Hezbollah and parallel it to Lebanese Hezbollah which in the 1980s was created by the Islamic republic of Iran and which remains loyal to Iran’s clerical leadership.