The chief commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) says Iran is not a warmongering country but warns that in case of any act of aggression, it is Tehran that will determine the magnitude and quality of the confrontation.

“To unbalance the enemy’s state of mind in the first place provides us with initiatives and freedom of action. They should know that it is us (Iran) that would choose the battlefield and the intensity and quality of the battle. Of course, our strategy is defensive, that is, we are not belligerent,” Major General Hossein Salami said on Wednesday during a ceremony to unveil new military equipment to join the IRGC Ground Force.
“Our policy is defensive, but our strategies are all operational, and that is a fact. We will not initiate a war, but after the first invasion, we will be offensive because we want to safeguard our territorial integrity,” he stressed.
He said that Iran has been facing threats emanating from policies of “evil powers” over the past decades, adding that those seeking to stoke insecurity, from the United States to their European allies and their regional partners and local terrorists, are all incessantly hatching plots against the country.

However, Iran has emerged victorious out of all these political, military, economic and intelligence schemes of the enemy that it has been facing directly and indirectly, the senior commander noted.

Salami said emery has been seeking to target Iran through various forms, the biggest of which is psychological warfare, but he said that “security prevails in the country” and armed forces have their finger on the trigger while keeping a watchful eye on all enemy movements.