Tasnim – The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps deputy commander for coordination, Brigadier General Ali Fadavi, highlighted the IRGC’s military might and said it is now more powerful than ever.

“The uniform of the IRGC is the holiest uniform that we know throughout history because thousands of those who were among the best servants of God have been martyred in this uniform,” Brigadier General Fadavi said in a speech on Tuesday.

“For 40 years the IRGC has been protecting the (Islamic) Revolution with this very outfit,” he said, adding that the IRGC is now more powerful and honored than ever.

“The forty years of grandeur and pride have been created thanks to the blood of the martyrs,” the top commander went on to say.

The IRGC was established after the 1979 Islamic Revolution which saw the overthrow of the US-backed regime of the Shah and replaced it with the Islamic Republic. It is tasked with protecting the country and the Islamic Republic against enemies.

Brigadier General Fadavi’s remarks came against the backdrop of increased tensions between Iran and the US after the IRGC shot down an advanced US spy drone over its territorial waters.

The IRGC said on June 20 that a US spy drone that violated the Iranian territorial airspace in the early hours of the day was shot down by the IRGC Aerospace Force’s air defense unit near the Kooh-e-Mobarak region in the southern province of Hormozgan.

The intruding drone was reportedly shot by Iran’s homegrown air defense missile system “Khordad-3rd”.

Later on the same day, US President Donald Trump said he had called off a retaliatory attack on a number of targets in Iran and said that he was ready to speak with Iranian leaders and come to an understanding that would allow the country to improve its economic prospects. “What I’d like to see with Iran, I’d like to see them call me.”

“I look forward to the day where we can actually help Iran. We're not looking to hurt Iran,” Trump added.

However, on June 24 Trump announced new sanctions against top Iranian officials, including the office of Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, Iran’s foreign minister, and senior commanders of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC).