NCRI – The Iranian regime’s President Hassan Rouhani on Tuesday heaped praise on Brigadier General Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the regime’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds Force.
Rouhani, speaking at a rally to mark IRGC Day in Soleimani’s hometown Kerman, south-eastern Iran, said the Quds Force commander is among the “honours” of Kerman Province and Iran.
Rouhani said his friendship with Soleimani dates back to the 1980s’ Iran-Iraq war, adding: “Today if we look at eastern Iran, throughout Iran and throughout Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Palestine we witness the hallmarks of General Soleimani’s courage and fearlessness.”
According to the Fars news agency, affiliated to the IRGC, while praising the regime’s terrorist Quds Force, Rouhani said: “In addition to upholding the security in the east of the country over the years, [the Quds Force] has been present wherever its sacrifices and courage have been needed.”
The Quds Force is the extra-territorial wing of the IRGC and the Iranian regime’s main arm for exporting terrorism and Islamic extremism. In addition to its widespread meddling in the region, including in Syria and Iraq, the Quds Force has had a primary role in many of the regime’s terrorist operations. These include the 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia and the bombing of the Jewish community center in Argentina in 1994.
Rouhani also reiterated the IRGC’s role in preserving the mullahs’ regime and in meddling in countries of the region.
“The IRGC has always been a pioneer for solving the crises of the country. Today the IRGC is not only responsible for the country’s security, but also for the security of the countries’ that need Iran’s help, and it is courageously present in all those scenes,” Rouhani said.
He added: “The IRGC is a pioneer for sacrificing and in defending the holy shrines in Iraq and Syria and the oppressed people in Palestine, Lebanon and other countries seeking support from Iran. We hope that the IRGC and the victorious Bassij will succeed in all the scenes of defense and struggle.”
Commenting on Rouhani’s praises for Soleimani and the Quds Force, Ali Safavi of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) on Tuesday said:
“Hassan Rouhani’s heaping praise on a terror master like the Qods Force commander Qassem Soleimani is not at all surprising; he has been among leading regime officials in charge of exporting terrorism and extremism beyond Iran’s borders since the onset of theocratic rule in 1979. If anything, Rouhani’s remarks undercut the misleading narrative pushed by some in the West about the moderate faction gaining the upper hand following his election in 2013. The clerics, as the saying goes, are cut from the same cloth.”
