Enemy Incapable of Direct Confrontation with Iran: Commander
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Lieutenant Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force Brigadier General Esmail Qa’ani deplored a recent “cowardly” terrorist attack on IRGC forces in southeastern Iran and said the enemy is incapable of face-to-face confrontation with Iran.
Addressing a ceremony held in the central city of Kashan on Friday to pay tribute to martyrs killed in the Iraqi imposed war on Iran in the 1980s, Brigadier General Qa’ani pointed to the recent terrorist attack that killed 27 IRGC forces in the southeastern province of Sistan and Balouchestan and said the “cowardly act” was taken by the enemy.
“The enemy is incapable of face-to-face confrontation with Iran,” he said, adding that the enemy waged a cowardly war on Iran because they were unhappy about the 40th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution and Iran’s power in the region.
“This (terrorist) act indicates the culmination of the enemy’s disgrace and defeat in the face of the Islamic Revolution,” the commander went on to say.
On February 13 when a number of IRGC forces were traveling between the cities of Zahedan and Khash, in Sistan and Balouchestan, their bus was hit by the suicide car bomb attack. It killed 27 IRGC members and injured 13 others.
The IRGC’s Quds Base said in a statement that an explosives-laden car rammed into the bus, which was taking the personnel back to their homes.
The so-called Jaish ul-Adl terrorist group has reportedly claimed responsibility for the attack.
A day later, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei said there are clear links between the terror attack and spy agencies of some countries in the region and beyond, urging Iranian security organizations to seriously pursue the issue.
In a Sunday telephone conversation with his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif, Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said his country is ready for any kind of cooperation with Iran to probe into the terrorist attack.