America does not dare attack Iran, says elite guards commander
REUTERS
THE United States and its supporters do not dare attack Iran because of its “spirit of resistance”, a senior Revolutionary Guards commander was quoted on Wednesday as saying.
Tensions have spiked between Iran and the United States after Washington sent more military forces to the Middle East, including an aircraft carrier, B-52 bombers and Patriot missiles, in a show of force against what US officials say are Iranian threats to its troops and interests in the region.
“If the criminal America and its Western and regional allies don’t dare carry out a face-to-face military attack against our country it is because of the spirit of resistance and sacrifice of the people and youth,” Major General Gholamali Rashid said, according to the Fars news agency.
In a Twitter message addressed to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday, an adviser to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said the US military deployment to the region was a deliberate provocation.
“You @SecPompeo do not bring warships to our region and call it deterrence. That’s called provocation. It compels Iran to illustrate its own deterrence, which you call provocation. You see the cycle?,” the adviser, Hesameddin Ashena, tweeted in English.
On Sunday, US President Donald Trump tweeted: “If Iran wants to fight, that will be the official end of Iran. Never threaten the United States again!”. Meanwhile, Iranian and US leaders have reassured their nations that they do not seek war. But among ordinary Iranians who already face hardship from tightening sanctions, nerves are being strained by worry that the situation could slip out of control.
In interviews conducted from outside the country by telephone and online, Iranians described heated discussions at home, on the streets and on social media. The prospect of war was now the main topic of conversation in workplaces, taxis and buses, Nima Abdollahzade, a legal consultant at an Iranian startup company, told Reuters.
“Apart from the deterioration in the Iranian economy, I believe the most severe effect” of confrontation with the United States “is in the mental situation of ordinary Iranians,” he said.