27-Jul-15: Even more peace from Iran's highest-level military force

Mr Salami [Image Source]

The transaction that we choose to call the Iran Nuclear Enablement Deal™ (a less nuanced, and therefore more realistic, title than the official one) is wending its way through Congress, US opinion and the political corridors of countries throughout the West. 

In those circumstances, and without dwelling on the peculiar manner aspects of this process are being reported in the mainstream news media, there's no reason for apologies about drawing the attention of readers of this blog to how the parallel process is going over on the Iranian side. 

We offered some initial insight, using Iranian sources and plain Iranian-to-English text, unembellished and exactly as it appears in the English-language Iranian news media, just a few days ago: see "22-Jul-15: Now that peace is on the way, what to make of blood-curdling Iranian incitement like this?" 

Today we offer the snarling, glowering Iranian news report below.  It went to air in Tehran just yesterday. And like the earlier report, it bears the imprimatur of FARS News Agency which calls itself:

"Iran's leading independent news agency, covering a wide variety of subjects in different, political, economic, cultural, social, legal, sports, military and other areas with the most up-to-date, independent, unbiased and reliable news and reports in Persian and English. Ever since its establishment in early 2003, it has been making its way towards daily progress and gaining reputation as a trustworthy source [etc]... As our English department was established in December 2005..." 

As Wikipedia points out, though FARS says it's independent, both CNN and Reuters say it's a "semi-official" government news agency.

Salami, gently preparing his fellow-Iranians for peace, November 2013
[Video grab from YouTube source]

IRGC Deputy Top Commander: US Unable to Take Slightest Hostile Move against Iran | July 26, 2015 | TEHRAN (Fars News Agency) - Lieutenant Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Brigadier General Hossein Salami played down the US officials' war rhetoric against Iran, warning that the US knows its slightest hostile move would receive a crushing response. Brigadier General Salami's remarks came after US State Secretary John Kerry threatened to use military action against Tehran if it fails to respect a historic nuclear deal sealed on 14 July. "Today the US knows that the slightest move against the Islamic Iran will ruin its house of dream," Brigadier General Salami said, addressing a ceremony in the city of Zahedan, Southeastern Iran, on Sunday.
He pointed to the US officials' catch phrase "all military option are still on the table" even after the Vienna nuclear agreement, and said, "The Americans have always resorted to bullying because they lack diplomatic skills..."...In relevant remarks on Friday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in a statement blasted US officials' recent comments against Tehran after the country and the world powers reached a nuclear agreement earlier this month, calling on them to kick the bad habit of threatening Iran.
"Unfortunately, the US secretary of state has spoken of the worn-out rope of 'the US capability to use military force'," Zarif said on Friday... "Therefore, it is better for the Americans to forget their old habit and leave the language of threats and sanctions against this great people once and for all," Zarif said. He also underlined the Iranian officials' united stance on different issues... and said the US had better avoid repeating its past mistake of sowing discord among the Iranian officials.

The FARS report notes, accurately, that the final agreement achieved (though never signed - FARS is silent on this, and so is much of the media elsewhere) in Vienna on July 14, 2015 received the endorsement of the UN Security Council by unanimous vote a few days later, "setting the stage for the lifting of Security Council sanctions against Iran", as they put it, accurately.

We think advocates of the Vienna understanding ought to give real thought to words like

"the US knows that the slightest move against the Islamic Iran will ruin its house of dream"

and what it means to unwind years of sanctions and restrictions on an energy-abundant, nuclear-hungry, terrorism-obsessed state that defines itself by its military might. But there are few signs that anyone who counts is taking the breast-beating seriously. 

Brigadier General Hossein Salami [background here] has a reputation for his elegant way with words. Under an easy-going, let's-just-be-friends headline ["IRGC Deputy Top Commander: US Unable to Intimidate Iran, We Welcome War with US"], he gently whispered

"We welcome war with the US as we do believe that it will be the scene for our success to display the real potentials of our power... We have prepared ourselves for the most dangerous scenarios and this is no big deal... We warn their pilots that their first flight [to attack Iran] will be their last one and no one will be allowed to go back safe and sound..." [FARS, May 7, 2015]

No one was terribly surprised. After all, a year earlier, he was - if anything - even more blunt in addressing the US's close ally and bulwark of regional democracy:

Today, we can destroy every spot which is under the Zionist regime's control with any volume of fire power (that we want) right from here... Islam has given us this wish, capacity and power to destroy the Zionist regime so that our hands will remain on the trigger from 1,400km away for the day when such an incident (confrontation with Israel) takes place..." [FARS, March 11, 2014]

And two months before that, an Iranian analyst quotes him speaking (in Parsi, which the analyst translates to English) on Iranian TV:

"America, with its strategic ignorance, does not have a full understanding of the power of the Islamic Republic... We have recognized America’s military strategy, and have arranged our abilities, and have identified centers in America [for attack] that will create a shock... We will conduct such a blow in which they [America] will be destroyed from within". [Daily Caller, February 01, 2014]

The analyst interpreted those threats from Salami to mean "that terrorist Hezbollah forces — allies of Iran — have infiltrated the U.S. and have mapped out targets".

Being Mr Nice Guy has paid off for Salami. See page 89 [here] of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action agreed in Vienna on July 14, 2015, and notice how it provides for his removal from the outlaw list.

Impressive, no?