A defense adviser to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei warned that any American attack on the Islamic Republic could set off a �full-fledged war� in the region.


�We don�t welcome a crisis. We don�t welcome war. We are not after starting a war," Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan told the Associated Press in a recent interview.

He, however, warned against any American military escalation in Trump�s final weeks in office.

�A limited, tactical conflict can turn into a full-fledged war,� he said. �Definitely, the United States, the region and the world cannot stand such a comprehensive crisis.�

The remarks came in reaction to a recent report in which the New York Times, citing four current and former US�officials on Monday, said that�Trump asked senior advisers in an Oval Office meeting on Thursday whether he had options to take action against Iran�s main nuclear site in the coming weeks.

A range of senior advisers dissuaded the president from moving ahead with a military strike, said The New York Times, adding that the advisers � including Vice President Mike Pence; Secretary of State Mike Pompeo; Christopher C. Miller, the acting defense secretary; and Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff � warned that a strike against Iran�s facilities could easily escalate into a broader conflict in the last weeks of Trump�s presidency.

Further, the advisor reiterated the country�s principled stance that its missile power is non-negotiable due to its forming part of Iran�s �deterrent� might.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran will not negotiate its defensive power ... with anybody under any circumstances,� he added. �Missiles are a symbol of the massive potential that is in our experts, young people and industrial centers.�

The official also warned about Israel�s regional expansionist ambitions that saw the regime normalizing its relations with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Sudan earlier in the year. Dehqan warned that the ambitious march was a �strategic mistake� that could put Tel Aviv in a parlous state.

�It is opening an extensive front,� he said. �Just imagine every Israeli in any military base can be a target for groups who are opposed to Israel.�

General Dehqan, meanwhile, addressed the likelihood of fresh negotiations with the US under President-elect Joe Biden and the quality that such talks could partake of.

The US� atrocities under Trump had made it extremely difficult for Iran to accept its return to the negotiation table, he said.�Among the rest, he referred to the US� assassination of Iran�s senior anti-terror commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani on Trump�s direct order near Baghdad airport in January.

He called the IRGC�s retaliatory missile strikes against US bases in Iraq that came almost immediately after the assassination a mere �initial slap,� and said that the Islamic Republic continued to seek the expulsion of all American forces from the region as revenge for the barbaric assassination.

�We do not seek a situation in which (the other party) buys time to weaken our nation,� he also said -- apparently signaling that Tehran would not tolerate any American trickery in the event of any fresh talks -- and said, �We are not after negotiations for the sake of negotiations either.�

 

Source: Tasnim