TEHRAN – Iranian military leaders have marked the anniversary of prisoners returning from the Iran-Iraq war with harsh warnings to the US and Israel, and have promised overwhelming retaliation for the new invasion.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) declared on Sunday that Iran is ready to “destroy the enemy front” that threatens its security, and praised the former prisoners as a living symbol of the state’s resistance. The statement led to a more recent conflict between Israel and the United States in June, when Iranian forces forced Israel to accept a ceasefire.
“Just as faith and unity have defeated Saddam’s war machine, today they will break the will of every invader,” the IRGC statement read. The powerful army vowed to continue following the founder path of the Islamic Revolution, predicting the ultimate victory over the region’s “Western Support Occupants.”
Iranian military generals warned on Saturday that new attacks by the US or Israel would meet “10 times stronger” than the June counter strike. The warning brought home more than 40,000 Iranians held in Iraq to commemorate the prisoner exchange on August 17, 1990.
“The same enemy, who was humiliated in June, unable to defeat Iran during the eight-year war, has yet to learn their lessons,” the military statement said.
On June 13, Israel launched airstrikes on Iran’s military, nuclear and security infrastructure. This lasted for 12 days, claiming the lives of at least 1,065 Iranians, mostly civilians, and senior military commanders and nuclear scientists among the deaths. The United States supported the Zionist regime since the start of the war, but directly joined the conflict on June 22 as it attacked three nuclear sites previously targeted by Israel.
A partial portion of the region, known as the codename of Iran’s retaliatory strike (Operation Turmis 3), has pammelized a portion of the occupied region of 22 waves of missile and drone attacks, destroying Israeli military, security, intelligence and economic sites, but analysts point out that Tehran has exercised its containment by holding back the most advanced and destructive weapons. Iran says the June 24 ceasefire, launched in response to Israel and Washington’s demands, represents only a temporary suspension of hostility that will take effect as long as Iran’s territory or interests remain unharmed. Several officials say they expect more Israeli attacks in the future.
Analysts also assessed Israel’s long-term objective as fragmentation of Iran, with the Intelligence Report showing increased support for post-conflict terrorist organizations and separatist groups in June.