Rahim Safavi’s unusually frank comments were published on Sunday by the state-run Mehr news agency. “We are currently in extraordinarily complex political, cultural, economic, security and social circumstances. This is true with regards to regional, global and domestic spheres.”
“The future is uncertain and we cannot [proactively] manage what the future has in store for us.”
Rahim Safavi was the commander-in-chief of the Iranian regime’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) until September 2007. He was succeeded by Mohammad Ali Jafari. He is now described as the senior advisor to the mullahs’ Supreme Leader in military affairs.
Safavi also compared the regime’s current international isolation with the pre-Iran-Iraq war era and said, “The same coalition has taken shape now, too. They want to create trouble for us with economic sanctions, political pressures and domestic tensions in Iran.”
“We must prepare ourselves for every scenario and not allow sanctions to cause problems for us in the future,” he said.
He also made reference to the US troops withdrawal from Iraq, and said, “The Americans are currently in the process of withdrawing. It seems that 30-50 thousand forces and five bases will remain in Iraq. This will be like the South Korea model; they will remain in Iraq for years to come to be able to dominate it.”