Mohammad Hossein Baqeri

TEHRAN – Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Major General Mohammad Hossein Baqeri said in a meeting on Tuesday that the Iranian Armed Forces are fully prepared to deal with any threat against the country. He highlighted that the complicated and diverse missions the Iranian military forces have been involved in have made them fit for countering all threats, saying “noting that such readiness is developed with an eye to threats from outside the region”. The commander noted that plans for enhancing the combat readiness of the Armed Forces should be devised with regard to trans-regional threats. He also stressed the Islamic Republic’s leading role in saving the people of the region from “the yoke of arrogance”. Baqeri underlined how Iran has made great headways in the military industries in recent years, while a targeted Western campaign, led by the US, has tried to contain Tehran’s defense capabilities citing nuclear concerns. In a gathering of Army officers in October 2017, leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei said that the adversaries are opposed to the enhancement of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s power in the region and beyond, because such power constitutes the “strategic depth of the Islamic Establishment”.